


Don't Be Late: A Peggy and Steve Modern reality

by Beckylynn311



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluffy, Modern AU, Steggy - Freeform, The epic saga you never knew you needed, modern peggy, more than occasional fluff fest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 36,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5174465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckylynn311/pseuds/Beckylynn311
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy wakes up in 2015 after Howard saves her life with a modified Super Soldier Serum. While her future with Steve seems promising, she can't help but hold onto the secrets of her past...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

“Peg!” Howard ran into the street along with the rest of security. The blood seeping through her clothes, “I’m going to fix this Peg,”

“Howard-” Peggy looked down at her stomach seeing the blood staining her hand, “I-”

 

* * *

Peggy’s eyes flashed open ripping her away from her dream. She had been shot, was she dead? Quickly she examined where she was. It was a simple hotel room? But still, it felt wrong. Her intuition never lied. Peggy sat up looking around but noticed her stomach. If she had been shot like she remembered there was no way she could sit up. But there was nothing that she could tell. She pulled the quilt off of her then noticed the fabric of the linens being off. It was like nothing she’s ever felt before. Someone was trying to trick her, and whoever was doing it was doing a very good job.

She went to the room closet trying to find any more clues to where she was or what she could use as a weapon if she needed to.

\-------

Director Coulson and Agent May stood nearby in an office watching the feed of Peggy waking up. “She’s picking up on everything.”

”Well look how well the last time worked out.” May looked at Coulson enjoying the look of him in the goofy vintage suit, “You should go and talk to her before she figures out how to make a crossbow.” she handed him a paper bag filled with clothes for Peggy.

”I’ll try and be more sensitive than Fury. We don’t have the budget to rebuild the walls” Coulson took the bag and left the room.

\-----

Peggy was by the door when she heard another one opening through the wall. There were footsteps coming her way. She hid behind the corner of the wall that concealed a bathroom.

The door opened but the person didn’t walk in, “Director Carter..” the voice was hesitant, “I know you’re hiding behind that wall. There are some things you need to know, but first.” He dropped the bag on the floor inside the room. “Here are some clothes for you. When you’re ready come out and we can get you some food and explain everything.”

She took a step out showing herself, “Where am I? Who are you?”

”You’re in New York.” He was telling the truth. “And you’re with SHIELD. You’re in safe hands.””

  



	2. Chapter 2

Coulson stood in front of Agent Fitz, Simmons, Daisy, Bobbi and May- wearing his usual suit, though he had just gotten used to the suspenders. They were in his office with the door and windows shut closed “Okay, so there’s been an improvement to things.”

“That really can’t be hard.” Daisy scoffed, “The sky isn’t falling so it’s a good day.”

“Har Har.” Coulson looked at Daisy, “This is actually good.. and Top Secret.” He turned to the screen that was no projecting Peggy Carters file.

Jemma sighed at the sight of the file, “Director Carter” it was partly a sigh of Awe and partly a sigh of love. 

“Here we go.” Fitz muttered.

“Peggy Carter. The Peggy Carter is my hero and there’s nothing you Fitz can do to make me feel bad about that!”

Coulson looked between Fitz and Simmons, “Well I’m glad to hear that. She’s alive.”

Bobbi raised an eyebrow, “That’s impossible she died-”

“In 1951.” Jemma stuck her finger in the air.

“Right…” Bobbi shifted her Torso away from Jemma. 

Fitz shrugged, “It’s not the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever heard. The rules of death are a little grey these days.” He gestured to Coulson.

“Yeah thanks for the reminder.” He deadpanned, “But this isn’t anything Alien. Peggy Carter is alive thanks to a modified Serum created by Howard Stark. It was kept a secret as to not get the hopes up. Top Secret.”

Simmons covered her mouth in hopes to stop a squeal. It wasn’t very effective, “When can we meet her! I have so many questions.”

Daisy blew air out through her cheeks, “What’s the plan? Catch her up to date with everything that’s happened for 60 years or however long it’s been.”

“You can’t just spring everything on her.” Bobbi pointed out, “What would you do?”

“Well speaking from personal experience, sometimes it’s nice to be told the truth. Rip the bandage off.” Daisy lifted herself up to sit on the table. “Who’s telling Cap?”

Coulson nodded, “Haven’t decided yet… I think she wants the answers. But I’m putting you five in charge of getting her educated about everything today and evaluating her to be registered back into SHIELD. Do you think you can handle that?”

Jemma squealed again before there could be anything else said. 

 

May decided that it would probably be best to have Peggy acclimate to the 21st century away from as many people as possible, so they started loading up The Bus. Jemma was extatic hardly able to control herself. 

“I’ve never seen Simmons so happy.” Bobbi raised an eyebrow at the scientist who was practically skipping everywhere, and looked back at Daisy, “If she’s taking it like this how’s the whole Steve Rogers thing going to go down.”

Daisy swiped through her tablet. New Inhumans were popping up everyday, it was becoming hard to keep track of. “I think Cap might have some competition with Simmons.” She teased. 

The doors to the air hangar opened, and in walked Coulson and Peggy Carter. She had to say, the pictures didn’t really do her justice. But whatever she was wearing..was certainly a throw back. “I’ll bet you 20 bucks that once she goes public everyone and their sister is going back to the whole… vintage vibe.”

Bobbi shrugged, “I don’t mind it. But I can’t pull of red lipstick like she did.”

“Agents.” Coulson stopped where The Bus’s door met the floor of the hanger, “Meet Director Carter.”

“Please don’t call me that.” Peggy insisted, “I’m not technically an Agent so I’m certainly not Director.” 

Daisy could stop herself from smiling, “Yeah, it happens to the best of us.” She had become an Agent before she was supposed to. 

“These are some of the Agents who’re going to help you. Agent Bobbi Morse and Agent Skye-”

“Daisy.” Bobbi and Daisy corrected him. 

“Damnit.” he muttered, “Daisy. Agent Daisy Johnson.”

Peggy smiled at both of them shaking their hands, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for the escort Director Coulson.”  
“It’s really not a problem. I’d say I’m your biggest fan but there’s some competition about that.”

“Speaking of the number one fan, everyone else is in the Bus. Er- the plane.” Bobbi turned around to walk up with Daisy and Peggy following. 

They walked through the garage stopping as the ramp lifted up getting ready for take off. Peggy looked around the garage, “This place must not be designed to handle combat, I’ve never seen so much glass in my life.”

“Well… you’d be surprised.” Daisy started walking up the spiral staircase. “The bus has seen its fair share.

“May I ask why we’re going to the trouble to do this in a plane?” Peggy asked as they ascended the stairs.

Bobbi walked through the living area of the Bus to sit down on the small couch, “This way you can get comfortable without worrying about people seeing you. Coulson doesn’t really know how to handle this situation.”

“I’m afraid I’m not sure either.” Peggy walked over to a window and started examining the things around the bus, “I’m not sure I even believe this situation is real.” 

 

Everyone was sitting around the table- except may who was flying the plane- going bit by bit through pop trivia. There wasn’t a solid manual on how to help someone acclimate to a new era. It had only happened once before and it wasn’t executed very well. They had gone over almost everything about SHIELD from the past couple years. The politics, the spies, and the fall of her own creation. What was left of SHIELD was a limping veteran, slowly rebuilding itself. As complicated as it was to break the news to the creator, everyone around the table was avoiding the elephant in the room. Jemma was practically bouncing being in the same room, it took every ounce of her not to just melt into a puddle. 

Peggy recovered from a laugh, “So I understand that bird thing-”

Fitz chimed in, “Twitter.”

She nodded, “Twitter, my mistake. May I ask a question about something else now?”

“Of course.” Jemma refilled Peggy’s tea cup with hot water. 

“The technology has evolved past anything we could have imagined when I was alive before. I just… have you found Steve Roger’s body? Or the plane yet?” Peggy asked carefully. 

Finally the door had been opened. “Well…” Fitz spoke before looking around the table. It was good news, why did this feel so tragic. 

Bobbi decided to take it, “SHIELD found the plane a few years ago in the ice after the . And Captain Rogers was in the plane frozen.”

Peggy nodded, “Well that’s good. I’m just glad he’s accounted for-”

“That’s not all... SHIELD was able to unfreeze him and bring him back. Captain Rogers is alive.”

 

Peggy was in the cockpit of The bus. “Turn this around and land!”

May kept her cool, “We can’t do that.”

“Why not? Steve is alive and I need to-” She was sure it wasn’t a secret in this era what Steve meant to her, and hopefully what she meant to Steve. Peggy looked at the controls seeing if there was anyway she could possibly figure out how to fly the thing, but she never did learn how to fly a plane. “I need to see him.”

“And you will.” Daisy said through the doorway of the cockpit, “But there are a lot of things to take into consideration. Your mental health and his.”

May flicked the plane to autopilot and turned around in her chair, “You just woke up from a coma in a new century. Agents close to Steve are checking on him.”

“This is why you did this on a bloody plane.” Peggy crossed her arms feeling like she was being captured, “So I couldn’t run away.”

Daisy took a step back, “We aren’t trying to trick you. We are protecting you, and Captain Rogers. We’re doing what SHIELD does. Let’s go back and we can run you through everything. That was the only secret.”

Peggy looked between May and Daisy, “Fine. But don’t you dare let it happen again.”


	3. Chapter 3

The Bus touched down an hour outside New York City. She passed all the psychological tests to be able to meet Steve, not that she agreed in the slightest with their hesitation. She watched as the Agents unloaded The Bus, “So,” She took a few steps over to Daisy and Bobbi, “So I’ve been cleared to meet Steve.” Of all the Agents Daisy was the most likely to be honest. 

“That I know of. I think he was given the green light.” she looked up from the tablet that kept her busy. Daisy tucked it under her arm to talk to Peggy, “And Coulson cleared everything so, I think you’re going public.”

“I can’t wait to be trending.” Peggy Deadpanned, “Is there the capability to get some new clothes before-”

“Aww, for Steve.” Daisy teased the historic icon. “You mean you’re not impressed with Shields workout attire? I’m sure we can set you up with something.” 

Bobbi smirked, “Not that either of us really have something you’d probably like. We’re both a little too-”

“Casual?” Peggy tried not to step on toes- though she new the two girls could handle it. “It’s nice to know I’m not required to wear Dresses in the workplace though.” She turned hearing someone call her name.

“Agent Carter?” Coulson walked over with a short haired redhead flanking him on the right, “I can say that now can’t I?”

Peggy nodded, “Yes I believe I’m cleared.”

“Meet Agent Romanoff,” Coulson gestured over, “She’ll be taking care of you from here on out.”

Peggy sighed, not being able to get over the feeling of constantly being babysat, “At least I’ll be on the ground for it this time. It’s nice to meet you Agent Romanoff.”

“Call me Natasha.” She shook her hand, “Now if you don’t mind Director…” Natasha gestured for Peggy and herself to leave, “Us girls have some shopping to do.”

\-----  
There was something about Natasha that made Peggy want to keep her guard up. To be honest she wished someone else had been in charge for this section of her education, or even better left to figure it out herself. “That’s all? You don’t have to wear slips or stockings?” She looked around the undergarment section of a ritzy clothing store. Everything seemed so revealing.

“Not for something like that.” Natasha leaned against the wall as Peggy looked through some tight fitting dresses. 

“Is there anything a bit more…. what I’m used to?” Peggy looked around fighting off the feeling of being overwhelmed. “Dresses with a bit more coverage.”

Natasha walked over from where she usually shopped and over to something more like Peggy. “More coverage but something Steve would like.” she pushed things aside, “Something like this?” It was a Pencil skirt, then he held up a cream blouse. To be honest Natasha held it up sarcastically.

“It’s perfect.” Peggy walked over, “I really just need something plain..”

She examined it again, “I guess it is pretty similar to what you would have worn. But can I insist on you getting some other things?”

Peggy nodded, “As long as it’s not too tight, or too short.. or too much like everything else.” she examined a rack of shoes, “However, these are nice.” Peggy had always been a sucker for a good pair of heels. “Do you know Steve well?”

Natasha was busy shopping for Peggy, “Yes I do. I’d say we’re pretty close to friends. As close as I could get to friends.”

“Does he know I’m back?” Peggy picked up some heels, “Is he with someone else?”

Natasha laughed imagining the drama that would come along with that, “If Steve knew you were here, he’d be here right now. And no, that man is married to his work. He’s having a hard time to adjusting to the idea that you’re gone. But I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like after.” 

She sat down on a stool, trying on the shoes she was interested in. Part of her felt sorry for Steve. If she hadn’t come back, where would that leave him. Where she was 60 years ago, painfully in love knowing it was impossible. But now she was back, and there was at least a chance that they could be happy now. “When can we meet? I just need to be prepared.” Peggy steadied herself with a breath. Relationships were always so difficult. She stood up testing the heels that turned out to be far more comfortable than their vintage cousin.

“I’ll make plans with him tomorrow at the Avengers HQ. He doesn’t have much going on so he won’t be able to say no.” Natasha took Peggy by the arm and pushed her in the back to try everything on.

 

\------  
Steve walked out of the changing rooms with a file of things to do for the day. He knew he and Sam would be around to tease and work out with. Wanda was training too- though he was really no help when it came to… whatever she did, nor did he care to be around it. He was useless around Vision but he just wanted to make sure the team knew he was there to support them. “Steve!” Sam shouted down the hall, “You ready to kick my ass in some running.”

“That’s not fair. It’s so hard to compare myself with someone so slow.” Steve jabbed. 

“Oh you’re going to regret that… somehow. Anyway, Nat wanted to see you. There was someone in her office. I don’t know.”

Steve shrugged, “It’s Nat, she’s the second biggest question mark I’ve ever been around.” He and Sam walked together for a bit before they were about to break off, “See you when I’m done. Don’t wear yourself out before I can get there.” He took a left down the hall to where Natashas office was. Though the term Office was pretty loose. It was more like a living room than anything else. The women kept strange hours- and that was saying a lot with them seeing Tony’s sleep pattern-or lack thereof. He knocked then opened the door, “Nat?”

Peggy stood up from sitting on the couch as the door opened. She quickly smoothed out the wrinkles on her navy blue skirt and pale pink blouse. Her heart was beating out of her chest.

“Peg?” Steve’s brain couldn’t stretch far enough to figure it out. He sput around making sure Wanda wasn’t behind them, then back at Peggy. “What’s happening?”

Peggy looked down at her hands that were fiddling together with nerves, “I… I’m afraid it’s a rather long story. One I don’t have many answers for.” She pushed her hair back behind her ear, “There was an accident-”

“I know that.” It sounded more hostile than he meant it to be. He was sick of SHIELDS secrets. “I mean- I mean I read your file. A lot. KGB assassin… you died.”

“As did you.” Peggy took a step forward, “Howard tested something on me.. and it worked. I guess.. I woke up a few days ago.”

Steve’s head snapped to Natasha, “A few days ago? You knew and didn’t tell me?”

Natasha shook her head, “I found out yesterday. The orders were to make sure you both would handle it.”

The room was silent, both Steve and Peggy searching each others faces for answers. They were more than arms length apart but Steve took the first steps forward and wrapped Peggy in his arms. “You’re alive.” He was careful not to lift her up, “And you’re here..”

Peggy nodded following his lead and wrapped her arms around him, “It had been so long Steve.” She couldn’t stop herself from crying. Not that it really mattered, “You were gone.. we looked so hard for you...”

“Peg, don’t cry.” Steve pulled away for a moment before pulling her chin up to kiss her, “Please..” he whispered and pressed his lips against hers.

Natasha’s mouth curled into a small smile, “Easy you two.” She joked and walked to the desk to pick up a box of tissues, “You have your virtue to think about.” she delivered them to Peggy.

Peggy rolled her eyes and looked over to Natasha, “Oh please.” She wiped her eyes, careful of the Make up. “Steve… I expect you have a day planned ahead of you.” She sniffed and looked up to Steve with a smile, “But do you think you could make room for me?”

Steve wrapped Peggy back in a hug, “Anything for you Peg. Anything.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Peggy and Steve are cute, and Natasha and Sam make fun of them about it.

Steve left Peggy short after their meeting. She was right, he had a schedule and the last thing Peggy wanted was for him to forget about it responsibilities. They would go about their day, doing their work and meet for lunch. It seemed painfully casual.

Peggy went along with her day, secretly getting a tour of the Avengers facility by Natasha, while Sam and Steve were training. Sam stopped running on the track outside leaning over on his knees, "I don't even know why you run man." Steve finished his lap not even breaking a sweat. "Especially with me of... all people."

Steve stopped by Sam, "I like the company. And you've gotten faster." He was trying to be nice.

"I vote for an early lunch. I think I saw Clint with some of that meatloaf from Laura, I'm sure he'll share."

"As much as I'd like to say yes to that." Steve walked to the start of the loop and grabbed his water bottle, "But I got a date." He grinned.

Sam nodded, "You can't call business meetings dates. It gives the... wrong impression."

Steve smirked, "No, I have a date. You know... girl, boy, lunch. At least that's how Nat and Tony explained it to me." Steve turned around not too concerned with

"Hot damn!" Sam clapped and ran to catch up to Steve, "Who is it?"

"A friend." Steve approached the door to the facilities. "An old friend. Not that she looks old."

Sam waved Steve off, "I've never been good at riddles, I'll just ask Natasha."

"What are you going to ask me?" Natasha stood with Peggy further down the sleek hallway.

"Who Steve has a date with." Sam walked down a few steps with Steve, "Didn't think it was possible." He looked over at Peggy noticing her nice frame without being impolite, "Who might this be?" Sam held a hand out.

Peggy shook his hand, "Shield Director Peggy Carter."

Steve couldn't stop himself from grinning, "She's my lunch date."

Sam eyed Peggy a bit more, "Well no shit. That the girl you told me-"

"Yep." Steve nodded.

Peggy interjected, "I can report with mixed emotions that I'm the newest relic of Howard Starks biological experiments that actually worked."

"Good ol' daddy stark." Natasha pulled Sam aside, "Let's go try and steal some of Clints lunch." The idea left Steve and Peggy alone for the first time in a long while.

They approached the moment with silence, both unsure what to say. "So-" Steve started.

"So." Peggy nodded taking a small step forward.

Steve scratched the back of his neck, "I'm gonna change and then we can grab lunch... or go get lunch.. have lunch... The cafeteria food isn't bad... but it's better than anything we had during the war-"

Peggy closed the gap and kissed on the lips, "Please stop talking and go change."

The Avengers Facility was top of the line in every way possible- Stark made sure of that. But the one thing that had never been thought through was a romantic spot. Each member of the team had their own room to be used however they needed. Bruce had a meditation room, Natasha and Sam shared a game room, Tony's room was the closest anyone's came to luxurious due to the amount of technology the man needed to tie his shoes, which is why when Tony ever saw the inside of Steve's room he was concerned for his friends sanity. Besides the desk covered in an obvious lack of technology there was some weights and a punching bag in one corner then a cot in the other. 'an honest to god cot' is how Tony described it. But it made Steve feel at home. The old baseball posters and even an original USO tour poster but his prized possession were the pictures he found in the SHIELD files. Pictures of the Howling Commando's in all their glory, and "Skinny Ass Steve" as Sam would say framed and hung tastefully- with much help from Bruce and Pepper. In the center was a picture of Steve, Peggy and Bucky sitting around a make shift table somewhere on the western front playing cards. Dugan snuck the picture when no one noticed, and Steve was glad he found it. Sometimes the sentiment of the room overwhelmed him. If he walked into a room like this in the beginning would have triggered him into some of the more unhappy memories of his past. But now, it gave him the drive to fix what Peggy had created and the ideals they shared.

But now he wouldn't really need the reminded since she was sitting across from him in the quiet corner of the cafeteria, "I really can't believe you're here Peg. It seems like a dream."

Peggy nodded looking around, "This whole thing does. The world is so-"

"Different?" Steve guessed.

"Yes." Peggy sighed her finger nails playing with the rim of the plate, "Like I'll never belong in it."

Steve watched her red finger nails, "I feel like that's the thing about this time.. There are so many options for everyone, every door is open so no one has their place. When we were younger, before the war, we had our places."

"The world made sure to remind us of that."

"But you fought it." Steve reminded her.

Peggy shook her head, "We both did."

Steve shrugged, "I did a lousy job at it. I waited around for the SSR to change me-"

"They did not change you Steve." Peggy said with a determination, "You have always been the same Steve Rogers to me. That Steve that got the flag off that flag pole, and jumped on that grenade at boot camp."

Steve reached over the table and took her hand, "I'm so glad you're back with me Peg. I'm not sure I understood how much I needed someone to believe in me, and not the suit until you came back," He ran his thumb over her knuckles, "Someone who believes the little guy as much as me now. Peg," His voice caught in his throat, "I feel like there's so much past between us, I don't know how to say what I want to say."

Peggy laughed, "You're so dramatic." She pulled her other hand up to take his, "The World has changed, and we can't go back, All we can do is our best and sometimes the best thing we can do is to Start over. But I'd like to start over with you Steve."

Steve squeezed her hand, "I'd like to get to know you."

"We really don't know each other." She looked up to his eyes, getting worried that they both had opposing ideas "Is this you telling me, kissing you was a bad idea?"

"No!" he said quickly, "No no, that was... nice. I liked it... do you not what to-?"

"You still don't know a thing about women." she rolled her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Avengers throw Peggy a welcome back party...

To say the Avengers were supportive of Peggy’s arrival would have been an understatement. For years they had heard the things Steve had to say about Peggy, retelling his war stories whenever Thor brought along his mead. So once they all found out the only logical thing to do was to throw a party. Thankfully a small party. 

Bruce and Steve sat at the bar eating the little finger foods Pepper ordered. He didn’t know what they were but they were good, “Anyone know if Thor is coming?”

“Unfortunately, the guy can’t figure out a phone.” Tony was mixing drinks, “I guess you two have that in common. Why do you need him? Some liquid courage?”

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked with a mouth full of whatever it was.

Tony shrugged looked over at where Peggy and Pepper were talking about something that seemed like business, “Peggy’s one hell of a women.”

“What does that mean!?” Steve sat up straight not sure if it was a compliment or not.

Tony put his free hand up, “Hey, I’m not giving the birds and the bees talk to a relic.”

“I don’t need-” Steve turned pink. 

Natasha came over mixing a drink for herself, “Tony stop embarrassing him,” she looked up, “That’s my job.”

“You two don’t have to worry about… that department.”

“That department?” Tony shook his head, “No one who says ‘that department’ about sex knows what they’re doing.”

Bruce looked up from the tablet he was reading to stick up for Steve, “Come on guys, cut him some slack-.” 

“Thank you!” Steve was glad to be relieved of the brunt of the attention.

“They’ve been through too much to be nagged by you two.” He said with his attention back on the table.

“Tony what’s taking you so long with that drink?” Pepper walked back over which drew Peggy over. The group dispersed. 

Tony handed the drink over to Pepper, “Don’t worry about it. Just giving Steve a hard time. Peg can I make you a drink?”   
“Yes Howard.” she caught herself, “Tony. Sorry.”

The likeness was hard for Peggy to get over, but she was trying. Every time she slipped Tony’s bright attitude faded. “It’s alright.. What can I fix up for you?” 

Peggy took a seat next to Steve, “Not sure.. not sure what the effects are going to me.”

“What have you tested so far?” Steve asked. The serum hadn’t been tested. That was on the schedule for next week once Peggy was better adjusted. 

“Nothing besides medical things. Samples…” Peggy looked at the arrangements of alcohol, “I’ll have some of that Schnapps.” Tony nodded and started mixing something together. “How often do you all get together like this?”

Steve shrugged, “Fairly often. Whenever anyone is free. Tony likes to have an excuse to entertain.”

“Before you compare me to my dad, don’t.” Tony handed Peggy a glass. 

“I wasn’t going to. Howard threw parties yes, but they evolved into distractions near the .” Peggy played with the rim of the glass, “Business matters, Peg.” She said in a good recreation of Howard's specific accent. She took the glass tasting it and winced, “You mix drinks like him too.”

Pepper looked at the food she artfully ordered, “Screw it I’m getting Pizza.” 

“That’s my girl.” Tony grinned.

“Thank god. I’m starving.” Peggy relaxed. The quiet room was interrupted by a rumble of thunder. “Bloody Nora! That was unexpected!”

Tony looked at the porch of the Tower, “I guess Thor is showing up.”

“Right… Thunder.” Peggy nodded, “That’s new.”

Steve laughed and put a hand on hers, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll probably like Thor.”

“Probably?” Peggy asked but was cut off.

“Greetings my glorious mortal friends. I am here to embrace the life of the party and meet The Captains reat love!” Thor walked through the door spinning the hammer in his hands.

Peggy raised an eyebrow at Steve, “Great love?”  
He went bright red, “It’s.. well… Thor’s pretty dramatic.”

“This must be the one.” He walked to Peggy giving a Bow “Madame Carter.”

“That’s not necessary, just call me Peggy.”

Thor grinned, “That is good. You may call me Thor. Oh, my friend Steve. I have brought our drink.” He put a bottle of mead on the counter. 

“I’m not sure I’ll be having any of that.” Steve handed the mead back. 

Peggy looked at the bottle, “You can drunk now?”

“It’s special Asgardian Mead.” Steve explained. 

“Not created for mortal men… or ladies.” Thor gestured to Peggy.

“I’ll stick with the Schnapps for now.” Peggy examined the bottle, not wanting to test her new liver.

“Pizza’s been ordered-” Pepper walked in and stopped when she saw Thor, “I’ll go order more.”

“Thank you great Pepper for feeding my asgardian appetite.”

“Yeah yeah..” she waved getting back on the phone. 

****

After the pizza was delivered and inhaled by all guests, the group was lounging over the living room half heartedly watching as Sam and Natasha played some childish video games. The gameres were on the floor leaning against the couches. Pepper had her legs draped over tony as she finished the beer in her hands. Bruce was almost falling asleep, in a seat of his own. Peggy watched the game, the alcohol and food made her transfixed by the technology and the colors. “What are those little men doing? What’s the point?”

“Run through the level. Avoid the monsters.” Bruce mumbled. 

Peggy yawned, “I don’t understand.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Steve handed the bottle back to Thor who was on the couch next to him. Feeling the buzz from the mead he put his arm around Peggy.  
Peggy leaned her head against his shoulder. It wasn’t much, but it was exactly what she always wanted. “I won’t.” His shoulder wasn’t the softest thing she’d ever rested on. It reminded her of camping her way across the front with the 107th, leaning against Steve when they both had a moment. “I believe the last time we were like this we were in a trench.”

Steve laughed playing with the end of a lock of hair. Her hair was more modern than he was used to, but he still liked it. It seemed more maintained. “Dugan was raving about bourbon. Pinkerton was telling some story.. but we were also being shot at.”

“You’re right.” Peggy sighed closing her eyes. “That part was not so ideal. This is nice though.”

Steve looked down at her letting go of the strand of hair and forgetting about the people around him. He picked up her chin and kissed her lips again like the first time. Peggy put a hand on his chin feeling the strong jaw under her fingertips. Steve broke the kiss, “Tony do you mind me crashing in my guest room tonight?” He looked over at Tony and Pepper who were both asleep on the couch. 

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” Peggy smiled, “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Of course not.” Steve grinned.

Peggy sat up, “It was nice meeting you Thor.” She stood up smoothing her pants out, getting used to the better fabric was difficult. 

“It was wonderful to meet you as well. I shall see you in the morning.” 

Steve picked Peggy up in his arms, “Goodnight everyone.” There were some whistles from Nat and Sam on the floor. 

“Steve this isn’t necessary.” She relaxed her head on his shoulder, “I can walk.”

“Just let me be a gentlemen.” Steve insisted and walked down the hall to his guest room. He set her down on her feet closing the door behind him. His hands pulled her closer to him, sealing his intention with a kiss. 

“Steve.” Peggy put her hand on his cheeks, then through his tousled blonde hair, “We shouldn’t do anything too drastic right now.” She couldn’t believe that she was the one to be the voice of reason. He nodded, “We don’t need to make up for lost time quite yet.” Peggy kissed him again. He still didn’t quite know what to do in this situation. Tony, Sam and Nat had only ever nagged him about sex. “You’re drunk anyway.” She teased.

“I wouldn’t say drunk.” Steve snipped back.

“Oh really?” Peggy kissed him again.

Steve smiled running his hands down to her waist. “I’m going to take a shower. To sober up.” 

Peggy took a step away and walked around to the bed. “I’ll be here.” she flopped down feeling the expensive fabric. Steve laughed and walked into the bathroom. Once she heard the water running she got up to find something that would work as pajamas. Mostly so she didn’t sleep in her new clothes and secondly to stop herself from being made to look foolish.

She rushed out of the bedroom sneaking into another bedroom that might have a better selection of Pajamas. Natashas guest room was far too revealing, but the next door down was what she assumed was Clint’s- due to the pictures on the nightstand of a wife and kids she had hope she could find something. In the closet was a pair of pajama shorts-that were a little too short for her tastes. Peggy covered up the signs of her snooping. Peggy snuck back into Steve’s room changing into the pajama pants and a soft flannel shirt of Steve's before the water turned off.

He walked out with a towel around his waist. “I forgot to grab-” he caught sight of her in the bed wearing his shirt and looking at the books on his side table. As sappy as it sounded she’d never looked so beautiful then when she didn’t think she was. And that was saying something, since she always looked good to him. 

Peggy saw him and looked away- “I borrowed a shirt I hope you don’t mind.”

“No!” he inched around to the closet trying not to expose himself. His cheeks were rosy pink. “You look good in my shirt I mean. Not better than before- but you know.”

“Yes I understand.” She cut him some slack. Peggy noticed his muscles were better defined then she remember. Another great modern advancement. 

Steve walked out wearing boxers and a SHIELD issued T shirt that seemed too tight by 1940’s standards. Not that Peggy was complaining. “Alright… Now I’m tired.” He walked around the bed and pulled the covers back without disturbing the covers over Peggy. “Is this too much?”

“What? Sleeping in the same bed together?” Peggy turned on her side to face Steve. “I don’t believe you remember that time we almost froze to death in that German winter.” The both started laughing, which turned into a mixture of giggles, “And we had to share that sleeping bag.”  
“It wasn’t so bad.” Steve flicked the lights off from the side table remote then went to wrap his arms around Peggy. She melted against his chest feeling more comfortable than she ever had.

“Until the rest of the 107th thought it was a good idea to join.” Peggy closed her eyes. They were both quiet for a long time. “steve?”

“Yes Peg?” 

“I know I said not to move too quickly.” Her voice was heavy with sleep, “But I think I love you.”

Steve held her in his arms tighter, “I think I love you too Peg. In fact.” He kised the top of her head, “I know I love you.”

“I love you too.” She said as her eyes closed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peggy figures out what the Serum did to her, and Steve give her a great idea.

Peggy stood outside the SHIELD laboratory practically pacing as she waited. It had been almost a day since she went in for her physical tests and the two scientists, Agent Fitz and Agent Simmons, were still consulting. Without seeing other people doing the same tests with her, there was really no way to know where she ranked. They were different tests than she put the men through in training. She was hooked up to machines and monitors as she followed their instructions. Finally she was done with waiting and went into the lab. “How is everything coming along?” 

Jemma jumped almost dropping the vial of blood in her hand, “Everything is fine!” she answered too quickly for Peggy’s liking. 

“What are you keeping from me?” Peggy tried to get a look at the paperwork and screens in their work space. 

“Nothing bad.” Fitz brought up two sets of data collected by physical exams on the holotable. “What we’ve found is actually extraordinary.”

Peggy looked still not sure what she was looking at, “I am not sure I follow.”

“Your results are far superior than we anticipated. Since you were the only subject of Howard Starks tests there is no other data to go off of. It seems as if he was very close to recreating the same Serum used on Steve Rogers.” Fits moved to the screen pointing some things out. “What we’ve decided is that you and Steve have the same possibility of strength.”

Jemma focused in on certain graphs that Peggy wasn’t exactly sure how to read. “He’s had a few years of training to be ahead of you and your body types and history of training will affect your future results. It’s fascinating. Super Soldier Peggy Carter- though you really don’t need the help to be super-” Fitz gave her a look like she was being a tad unprofessional which stopped her blabbering, “But anyway- completely manageable.”

Peggy crossed her arms, “Who needs to know?”

Fitz and Jemma were caught off guard, “Uh-” Fitz scratched the back of his head, “No one I guess-”

“Alright.” She nodded, “Keep this between us for a few days alright?”

Jemma nodded, “We’ll classify the files.” The tone of the room shifted with Peggy’s hesitation. “Is there something we can do?”

She shook her head, “Just classify the files. May I have a copy of them?”

Fitz nodded, “Of course. Some light biological reading.” he tried to be funny.

Peggy walked down the hall fishing her phone out of her pants pockets. The addition of pants into acceptable work attire thrilled her to no end. She maneuvered around the phone until she got to Steve’s contact and dialed; Pepper insisted it was easier than a pocket book, and Peggy was starting to believe it. 

“Hey Peg,” Steve answered with Sam shouting in the background.

“Are you busy?” 

“Uh- not really. Kind of the opposite.” He sounded like he was distracted by whatever was happening with Sam. “Sam is trying some new tech for Tony. It’s not going well.”

“I’m coming back early.” She walked down to her office in The Playground- that was still being constructed. Plastic tarps were laid around and everything seemed like a mess. A mess Coulson promised would be gone the next time she arrived.

“Is everything okay?” Steve’s voice perked in concern, “Is something happening?”

Peggy put a hand on her forehead trying to think, “Everything is fine… I just need to figure something out. I’ll explain when I’m there. I’m not going to interrupt anything am I?”

“No of course not…” He was quiet, “Why do I feel like this is something complicated.”

She laughed, “Because it’s me. Everything is complicated. I’ll be there soon darling.” 

“Love you.” Steve said followed by an automatic reply coming from Nat and Sam.

“LOVE YOU PEG.” Nat shouted.

Sam took it from there, “I love you more than the stars and stripes that run through my blo-” Finally, the call ended.

 

The remodeled warehouse that was the Avengers base always triggered the same memory as she walked in. The memory of trying to convince Howard to turn his plane around before he unknowingly destroyed New York City. Both of them had mourned Steve so greatly that she was always doubtful either of them would ever move on. But poetically enough Steve and the Avengers inhabited the warehouse, training to do what Peggy knew Howard would have wanted. Not that she would ever bring that up to Tony. 

Peggy exited the plane and saw Steve standing outside the doors. His hair combed back like he was trying to look his best for her. “Are you going to wait like that every time I come by?” 

Steve shrugged, “I don’t know. It was better than listening to the team give me a hard time.” Once Peggy was close enough he pulled her in for a kiss, “They even got Wanda in on it.”

“Think of it this way,” She rested her head against his chest, “It’s uniting them.”

“Peg, what’s wrong?” He said quietly. 

She moved out of his arms, taking a deep breath. “It’s the serum.” She turned looking at the building then back at Steve, “It did to me what it did to you.” 

 

They were sitting on a bench close to the facility. Peggy explained everything that had been explained to her. The Serum, the tests and the effects. 

Steve waited until she was finished, “Can I ask you why this is making you so worried? It’s been a few weeks and everything seems fine.”

“Is it that obvious?” She looked up trying to think until she could put it into words. “The day before Dr. Erskine chose you I went to him and asked him something that I almost wish I hadn’t. I asked him why he didn’t choose me for the serum.” Peggy laughed like she was being ridiculous, “I mean it was rather obvious the SSR was after leaders and soldiers, and I wasn’t that. I was lucky I wasn’t being used as a secretary.” She took a deep breath, “We had become some sort of friends after dealing with Colonel Phillips, and he knew what I was capable of. So I said to him, ‘why not me?’ and he said ‘Ms Carter, I did not pick you for the reason you suspect. It was not your gender but your anger.’” She paused, “It’s just bringing up old worries.” 

“You’re going to be fine Peg,” Steve said after a long pause. “The only reason I was the icon I was… that I am, is because of you...I think…”

Peggy watched him thinking. It was a very special look that only came about when he was planning something big. “What?”

He shifted, “I think you’re what the world needs.”

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“I’m serious Peg!” He lit up, “Why not turn SHIELD into this public icon. Something that’s actually doing good for the world. You’re in charge, you’re unbiased. Things with Inhumans are only going to get people in a panic.”

Peggy narrowed her eyes, “I’m not turning into the “Star Spangled women with a Plan”, absolutely not!”

He laughed, “That’s not what I was suggesting… a figure like.. Pepper.”

She took a deep breath, “I was never the face of SHIELD… it didn’t have a face. And if it did it was Phillips or Howard… but it was easier to keep things a secret back then. And Secrets is what got SHIELD into this mess, and myself. Howard never told me he was working on a new Serum.”

Steve shrugged, “I’m glad he was. It’s the reason you’re here with me right now.” He lifted her chin up to look at him, “I know it’s a lot Peg, I know. But the serum makes good great. And you’ve always been great.”

“This is why I needed to talk to you.” Peggy smiled, “Thank you Steve.”

He stood up and pulled Peggy with him, “Now we have some work to do.”

She followed, “What work?”

“Are you saying you’re not curious to see what you’re capable of?” the way he phrased it seemed like a challenge. The perfect challenge for Peggy.

“Well when you put it that way..”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony throws a Halloween party.

It had been a few days since Peggy found out what the serum had done to her, and to be honest she felt the same, of course she did break her 107 one armed push ups record which was a good notch on her belt. Other than the two scientists, Coulson, and Steve. No one knew. What Steve said about bringing SHIELD into the public hadn't been brought up again, but she was certainly thinking about it. But at the moment they had left the Avengers base and were in Stark Tower. Peggy had broken her phone a few days ago and that was unacceptable to Tony.

"You two coming to my party?" Tony asked around his workbench.

"What party?" Peggy watched as he tampered with her phone.

Tony looked up at Steve, almost offended. "You didn't tell her?"

"You didn't tell me either!" Steve was eating some of Tony's blueberries.

He shook his head, "You need to learn to read texts. Anyway- halloween party, Saturday."

"Aren't you a little old to be trick-or-treating?" Steve accused.

"Company party. Costumes and food mostly. It's a Stark thing."

Peggy nodded, "I'm aware. Howard always made me go. You're not going to make us dress up are you?"

"Of course I will. I'm making Pepper dress up." He picked up Peggys new and improved phone, "But you two have to come up with something if you're going to go… or you can just stay at home watching Benny Goodman and knitting."

"You listened to Benny Goodman." Peggy corrected, "But I can't go- I haven't gone public with… being alive."

Tony stole his pouch of blueberries back, "Then go public." he said it like it was simple.

Steve interjected, "It's not that simple."

"Then go in a costume. It's the whole point of the holiday is to be someone different." Tony put his tools away, "I put JARVIS on your phone so it'll be easier.. I made it super private so your information is safe."

Peggy didn't understand what could possibly be on the phone that would be top secret, but there was a lot she didn't understand. "We'll come to the party."

"We will?" Steve looked over.

"It will be fun. And I love costumes," she had an idea that was too good to pass up.

"If you say so, Peg."

Peggy walked with her arm linked with Steve's, "Is anyone going to know it's me?" she adjusted her wig with her free hand on the elevator.

"No, worst case scenario the tabloids are trying ask who the attractive redhead is on Captain America's arm, though people might know it's me either."

She laughed, "The fake goatee is very convincing."

The elevator opened to the large banquet room in Stark Tower. The lights were low and halloween decorations were everywhere. The whole seemed very expensive. "Oh I almost forgot." Steve reached into his shirt and flipped on the fake Arc reactor. The blue lights shone through his white dress shirt. Peggy was wearing a white business suit with her red wig in a high ponytail. For halloween they were the power couple of Tony and Pepper.

Through the party a few people stopped and noticed them, mostly because they weren't wearing revealing outfits with bunny ears. Steve bumped into a sleek looking cat and did a double take when he realized it was Natasha, "Nat?"

She looked between the two of them and almost keeled over laughing. "This is too funny! Its really good!" she shouted over the music.

"I don't skimp on disguises." Peggy had already shifted into an American accent.

"You need to find Tony." Natasha pointed over to where the bar was. She took the lead pushing through the crowd. To peggy, it seemed like a bit more than a company party.

Behind the bar, Peggy could see someone in a blue suit carefully mixing drinks. It took her a moment to figure out that it was Tony. His hair was swept to the side and he was wearing a dark blue suit that was surprisingly patriotic-

"Oh my god." Steve stopped in his tracks.

Peggy covered her laugh, "Minds think alike."

Tony finally looked over making eye contact with the two. He had a similar reaction to Natasha, making him forget about the drink he was icing for himself. He waved them over to a staircase that went up to what could be deducted as the VIP section. In the room there were some more familiar faces escaping the big crowds. Rhodey was dressed as a airforce pilot, Thor and Jane were dressed as some sort of Prince and princess couple - thor seemed more pleased than Jane about the whole thing. Tony walked over to Pepper who was sitting on her phone with a face on that meant she was reading business emails and didn't want room be disturbed, of course tony ignored that. "Pep! Look we showed up."

She turned to see Peggy and Steve and grinned, "I love it." She was wearing a dress straight off the posters of the USO tour.

Tony poked the arc reactor on Steve's chest, "Mines better."

Steve shrugged, "Well, I can't help that mines not real." He put an arm around Peggy, knowing they were safe from being found out. "This is a bit bigger than your average company party."

"It's because it is-"

"And louder, and more expensive." Pepper put her phone down and crossed her arms, "Eventually We'll have to do Halloween like normal people. Like the Bartons!"

Tony turned to calm Pepper down, "You're the one that said no to building you a farm."

"Because I hated living on Farms!" Pepper took a deep breath, "I'm not fighting tonight." She turned back at Peggy, "I think you look wonderful by the way."

Peggy smiled, "Not quite my taste, but I do feel like I could run a powerful company wearing this though."

"Thinking about updating your SHIELD business attire?" Pepper's interests perked.

Both Tony and Pepper interrupted at the same time. "No business!" Not that there was really anything for them to say to stop it. With Jane, Pepper and Peggy there. There was no way on earth the conversation wouldn't turn into business.

Near the end of the night, Steve was sitting in a chair in the VIP room, watching as people slowly trickled out. Halloween always made him nostalgic in a bad way. Peggy- dressed as Pepper with the wig removed- sat down next to him. "Modern candy is too sweet."

Steve nodded, "It's too artificial too. I found this candy story a few blocks west that Bucky and I always used to go to. Tastes exactly the same." he examined his hands trying not to bring his emotional state too close to the surface.

Peggy hooked her arm with his, "I was reading his file the other day.." She said quietly. "And your search for him…" She let the thought trickle off. "Sorry no business talk."

He shrugged, "It doesn't feel like business when it's about him. I need to find him Peg, It's like… I-"

"You don't need to explain that to me." She said kindly, "Once I get SHIELD a bit more settled, and myself out to the public, I'm going to find him, with you." Peggy leaned against his shoulder, "I've found people who're harder to find."

Steve rested his head on top of hers, "Bucky loved Halloween. Every year we'd go to the theater and watch the newest scary reel. Probably to keep me out of trouble."

"I never really did Halloween." Peggy sighed, "Not until I was spending time with Howard and he dragged me into it."

"You and Howard spent a lot of time together." Steve commented.

Peggy stayed quiet. "Can we not open that door please. Not yet anyway, not here… especially when you're dressed up like Tony."

Steve laughed, a good sign to Peggy that it wasn't an earth shattering confession. "I guess you're right."

"My friends, Tony is about to start a movie of horror. He wishes for you to partake." Thor walked over to them, still dressed in his costume.

"I've never been one for Scary movies." Peggy sat up.

"It can't be that bad can it?" Steve shrugged.

It could be… and it was that bad.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peggy becomes a public figure, and Peggy and Steve go off the map for a bit..

"You mean to tell me there's 2 people who can outrun me now?" Sam sounded less than pleased at the news.

"Sam, there are way more than two." Natasha smirked.

Peggy didn't really expect that the group of Avengers would disapprove of her, but it had been long enough she was worried the secret would offend them. The next few days everything would be different since she was coming out to the public. First as just a person and then the reformation of SHIELD.

"Have you told Pepper?" Tony was leaning his head against his fist, "The whole public relations thing should know eventually. Especially when you go out in the field with the Avengers - you'll need a code name, and a suit."

"Don't go design crazy." Peggy leaned back in her chair, "We have time."

Maria walked through the doors opened in the conference room, "I hate to interrupt but Peggy and I have some business to take care of before your interviews tomorrow."

"Calling that business is hardly fair." Peggy was trying to avoid it, "I already did my time at Finishing school." she stood up from the table, "More than 60 years ago might I add.

"That's the problem. I think you're fine but just go with it."

"Just put her in a tight dress, focus groups will open right up to that." Tony waved them off.

Steve narrowed his eyes, "Hey!"

"Down boys." Natasha pointed, "Now we have business of our own to take care of."

Maria walked down the hall with Peggy, "They aren't having you do anything too terrible today. Pepper would say luxurious."

"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" Pepper smoothed out her blouse.

Maria shrugged, "Because you're smart."

They walked down to the elevator and went up to the main living area. Pepper was standing around racks of clothes, "There you are."

"Oh bloody nora." Peggy looked around.

"You'll do fine." Pepper pulled her out of the elevator, "This is the easy part. Easier than interview training." Peggy couldn't argue with that, "I made some calls for you and I think I've pulled together some good options for interviews and appearances." she shifted through the clothes, "Before I was CEO I was Tony's assistant, I has to coordinate his wardrobe and his dates."

"Interesting specialization." Peggy noticed a combination of colors and fabrics she'd never seen. Until then, she'd been wearing clothes very similar to what she was used to, with the addition of gym clothes and Pajamas. "What's wrong with what I was wearing?"

"Nothing technically but if you want people to take you seriously you have to dress the part."

"I see the double standard hasn't vanished." Peggy said under her breath. It was astounding how things have advanced so dramatically yet stagnated. She walked forward and examined some of the things on racks.

"Not really. It's getting better, you'll help that if all goes well."

replayed in her mind. "Looking back at pictures fortunately for you the styles coming back some. The post war vintage thing."

"Back in the day I rather liked shopping. Before fabric rationing I had quite the closet.." Peggy pulled out a dark purple dress with a keyhole front. "I had one just like this, it had sleeves though. I'm not sure I'll miss them though." She pulled it against herself noticing the shorter than usual length and soft material. "May I request red lipstick?"

Pepper laughed, "And Natasha said I'd have a hard time with this."

Peggy paced in the living room of Stark tower. After an entire day of press junkets-as Pepper called them (Peggy had less curious things to say about them)-she wished she could hide away and go to bed, wait for the paper to come out in the morning. But things were a little more instant these days. Her face was on every news channel, "I hate this."

"You'll get used to it." Tony flipped through the channels. "Being picked apart word by word."

Pepper read from her phone, "Here's from Time, 'The world received yet another surprise today in the shape of an idealistic Margaret Carter, the assumed dead founder of S.H.I.E.L.D who vows to resurrect the organization to it's former glory. Nazi's not included.' I think we can work with that."

"Social media looks good." Natasha reported, "You should probably get some of those while we're at it."

Peggy nodded, "That's the thing Agent Johnson is always on. Someone can explain that to me later."

"Should we dabble in the tabloid news stations?" Tony suggested.

"No!" Pepper whined but it was too late. Some celebrity news station was already picking apart what Peggy was wearing as well as her figure.

She crossed her arms at a comment saying something about how her hair should have stayed in 1951, "That's quite rude."

Steve came in from the kitchen handing Peggy a cup of tea, "It's a lot better than what they said about me."

Tony laughed at some of the comments, "They're talking about you Steve,"

"Please change it to something that's not talking about my bosom!" Peggy insisted. She hated the way she was reduced to a mannequin for their gossip, "Are they like that about everyone?"

"Oh yeah." Tony nodded, "They usually pick on pop celebrities-movie stars, singers- but every once and awhile the squeeze in Pepper or I. They're afraid to pick on Natasha."

Pepper looked up at Peggy trying to reassure her, "Everything is going according to plan, you don't need to worry. Gossip is gossip.'

"You should get some sleep," Steve put his hand on Peggy's back, "We have to play along tomorrow."

"You're flying to D.C for a photo shoot." Pepper was enjoying helping Pepper adjust into the media. It's what she was good at- besides running the company.

"Wait-" Peggy perked up, "You're not coming with me?"

Natasha looked over, "Agent Morse is going to watch you and make sure everything is okay."

Peggy groaned, "I'm going to need rest if I have to go worry about the entire world pointing cameras at my face."

Steve kissed her, "Be there soon." he looked at Natasha surprised she didn't say something, "You didn't say anything that time!"

Natasha looked up, "What? Sorry, there's a vine of two cats dressed up like you and Peggy that's just too spot on."

Peggy looked out the window as they started their decent down to Washington D.C. "You okay?" Steve asked. He was sitting across from her in the SHIELD director private jet.

She sighed, "It's just a lot. The world finally knows I'm awake and it still feels surreal."

"Maybe that's the private Jet," he looked around, "Pretty nifty."

"Indeed." She took a deep breath, "How do you feel about this? About being so public."

Steve shrugged, "It was my idea, and like I said, I think it's what the world needs. The world needs the Peggy Carter they missed out on 60 years ago."

Peggy tried to figure out his body language, "Something's wrong isn't it?"

He ran scratched the back of his neck, searching for words, "Not really, I just haven't been back to DC since SHIELD fell, and everything with Buck."

"I hear you've made quite a splash in the Potomac." She deadpanned.

He chuckled, "Stop that."

"What?"

"Stop making everything better, I'm trying to brood." He teased.

"Then I shall leave you to your brooding." She looked out the window, "Get it out of your system now, I'm fairly certain we're meeting the President in a hour."

The plane touched down and soon the two were being escorted out to a black car by their pilot, Bobbi. "Thank you for doing the flying." Peggy said to Bobbi once they were in the car.

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad to be out of the lab." She looked down at her knee, "I guess Co-Director Coulson doesn't expect too much trouble on the trip."

"Don't be too hard on yourself." Peggy stopped her, "I've read your file, you've been quite useful to the team.

Bobbi smiled and looked out the window as they left the runway, "Thanks Director."

"May I ask?" Steve asked, looking down at her knee that had a brace on.

She inhaled at the memory, "A run in with the new leader of Hydra a while back. He used to be on our team. I guess he never was really."

"Grant Ward." Peggy said with equal distaste, "He's the new leader of Hydra."

"Persistent guys aren't they?" Steve felt bad for asking, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"They keep growing heads." Peggy said quietly.

Bobbi reached back pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail before they arrived at their destination, "Then we'll cut them off. Starting with Ward."

Peggy and Steve walked out of their meeting in the Oval office, finally done with all their hand shaking and smiling for the day, "I'm starving." She looked up at Steve.

"Me too." He looked around, "You don't think it would be impossible-"

"To ditch our chaperone?" Peggy finished his thought. "Never." She pulled him down a side hallway, "It's not the first time I've snuck out of this building."

They stopped a few blocks away, once they were sure a certain blonde SHIELD agent wasn't chasing after them. "We need to blend in somehow." She looked at a newsstand that had her face plastered over every piece of paper. "I'm everywhere."

Steve nodded, "Right," He looked over to a pop up tourist T shirt stand, "stay here." A few minutes and 20 dollars later he came back with a bag full of merchandise. "Have a hat… and a hoodie"

"You seem to know what you're doing. I thought espionage was my field." She took her blazer off to put the sweatshirt on over her white blouse.

"Lets just say this isn't my first time hiding from SHIELD in DC." he put his hoodie on and reached back in the bag, "And here," Steve unfolded a pair of black sunglasses and slid them onto her frame, then did the same.

"Right." She started walked again throwing her blazer into a trash can, "There's plenty more where that came from… now... where to? I'm sure there's a lot I need to see."

Steve followed and walked with her, "Do you feel adventurous or nostalgic?"

Peggy thought for a moment, "Nostalgic." She looked over, "If that's alright."

He nodded, "I know the perfect place."

"This is… very nostalgic." Peggy tossed the fast food cup from lunch into a bin as they walked into the Smithsonian History museum.

"If you don't want to-" He watched her face to make sure it wasn't upsetting her, as well as the sunglasses would allow.

Peggy shook her head, "No I'd like to see what came of my friends."

He pointed down a hallway, "It's this way."

"Been here before?"

Steve's ears when red, "Well.. yes. I was just looking about stuff on the war, not much of SSR history… besides you."

"Well of course." She snarked, "Can't forget me."

They walked through a small dividing hallway, to the hub of the exhibit. The display of the Howling commando's and their uniforms. "They had to recreate mine.. I stole it." Steve grinned, too proud of himself.

"What a handsome group." Peggy took her sunglasses off to get a good look at everything, "They're missing an important part of Dugan's uniform."

"The bottle of bourbon?" they both laughed and kept walking through the exhibit. They passed a small theater playing old war reels, "We can just skip over these."

Peggy peaked her head in, seeing Steve running through a fake battle. She walked out almost immediately, "At least it's not the Captain America radio hour."

"The what?" Steve laughed.

"A post war attempt of glorifying you." She rolled her eyes. In her best announcer voice, "And now it's time for the Captain America hour, where we left our favorite soldiers lovely lady Betty Carver in the hand of Nazi's." she put her hand to her forehead in a dramatic american accent, "You good are going to be sorry once...Captain America gets here." Peggy went back to her normal stance and voice, "It was insufferable."

"You're too good at that." Steve enjoyed her performance.

"At what? Recreating my damsel in distress fictionalized self?" Peggy stopped looking at a display about the one man rescue mission behind enemy lines, "Howard and Angie were always quite fond of my impressions."

Steve looked away from a picture of him and Bucky, "Who's Angie?"

Peggy sighed and looked at Steve, "We lived together and we were very… close friends." She said simply, "… and I-."The memory of Angie affected her differently than she expected, "I hate keeping things from you Steve but I don't think right now-"

'Steve stopped them, "We don't have to talk about that now… Alright?" He cupped her face with his hands so she looked up at him, "We're just looking, storytime can be later… if we ever have it. If there's something you don't want to explain just say so,"

She nodded, "I'd like to not discuss Angie right now."

"Yes Ma'am."

They walked through the cases of important SSR agents. "These are the guys that gave you a hard time?" He looked at uniforms and artifacts behind the glass.

"Some." Peggy stopped in front of Daniel Sousa's tribute. The old metal crutch was pinned up on the wall, "Daniel made the SSR bearable for me. Until Howard and Phillips included me on forming SHIELD… you would have liked him. Jack Thompson however.." she looked around for his case, and noticed it finally. "He was the biggest ass… but good at his job. Constantly stealing credit, my credit usually."

"And to put that in perspective, you were friends with Howard." Steve laughed and took a scan around the museum. He caught a glimpse of a rather angry SHIELD agent walking their way, "We've been caught."

Bobbi walked to them and crossed her arms, "I'm afraid your date is over." She looked around, "And a bit gloomy don't you think?"

Steve shrugged, "I've never been good with lovey stuff."

"They changed stuff since the last time I was here." Bobbi looked around. "I mean they had to… you're not dead anymore. I guess they'll probably be adding to it again."

"I suppose I'll have to make history first." Peggy took a final look around, "We should probably go back before people figure out we're here."

Steve nodded, "Back to Stark Tower… the temporary home sweet home."

"Someone tweeted a picture of them walking down this street over an hour ago." One Hydra agent said to another.

"Thank god for technology. I don't know how people did this before." the second Hydra agent looked around.

"It looks like they were wearing different clothes than the pictures with the President one of the sleeper agents sent." The first one was examining the picture.

As he talked the second Hydra agent went to the trash can seeing a black blazer. She unfolded the blazer and picked off a hair on the collar, "Found something."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve requests answers, and not surprisingly Peggy doesn't want to give them..

Steve woke up and looked over to where Peggy should have been. It had been a week since she went public and even longer since she started ignoring Steve's questions about her past. He was a patient man, but if they wanted to have a chance at this, they needed to be honest and she was avoiding the truth with work. Give her time. Steve said to himself as he got out of bed. When he woke up it would have been hard for him to talk about his past, but Peggy seemed fine talking about most things, as long as it wasn't personal.

Steve was always a morning person so he was used to an empty facility. Everyone else was still asleep except for a few more agents. He stopped to grab breakfast for himself and Peggy and went to where he knew she was, punching away, trying to beat her records from yesterday. "Good morning." Steve walked in.

Peggy turned her head, "Is it morning?" She glanced at the clock, "I couldn't sleep."

"I figured." He set the breakfast down at a small table. Peggy walked over unwrapping her hands and getting water, "Break any bags yet?"

"Just one." Peggy sat down, "I don't punch quite as hard as you do."

"I'm sure you could, if you wanted to." Steve bit into a piece of toast.

Peggy nodded focusing on her plate, "I'll punch hard when I need to. How's the hunt for Bucky?"

He shrugged, "I think we're getting close. There have been some sightings that Natasha is looking into. He's not with Hydra so that's good."

The two ate insilence, which was becoming more common the longer Peggy withheld information. Steve didn't mean to, but when every question about who Peggy was was answered with a plea to change the subject, it becomes hard. He loved her and he would wait for her to open up, if she ever did. "Alright- I'll let you be now." He brushed the crumbs off his hand.

"Why do you say that like you think you're bothering me?" Peggy asked before he could leave.

Steve sighed, "Because I feel like I am." he scratched the back of his neck, "You're very solitary, every time I do something like this I'm afraid that.."

"What are you trying to say Steve?"

"I don't know you Peggy." He said softly, "I love you, but I wish I knew you."

"Don't be so dramatic, you know me." Peggy felt like she was being cornered, "We spent years together in the war."

"I'm talking about after the war Peggy. The six years you lived between me and dying or even you before the war. Your family? You and Howard." he tried to be subtle

She scoffed, "I knew that is what this is about." Peggy stood up from the table.

Steve followed her, "Peggy that's not what I meant." She stuffed her things into her gym bag, "Where are you going?"

"Back to SHIELD there are some things I have to take care of- far away from your jealous stink." She grabbed the bag and went to the door.

"How do you expect me to feel? If the situation was flipped what would you expect from me?"

Peggy rolled her eyes, "I'm sure you'd handle it perfectly Steve. Now I'm leaving. Have fun giving orders Captain, I will not be following them.

Getting back to work seemed to help for a while. A bit of it was like the old days, attempting to track down Hydra bases and repressing the memory of Steve down. Part of her knew it was unfair to keep things from him, but sharing her feelings was never her strong suit. She could see Coulson walking past her office through the glass, stopping in the door frame. "Is there a reason why you're not answering Steve's calls?"

"How do you know about that?" She looked up from a map of potential Hydra bases.

"Because he's calling me now… you should settle it before you put too much work on your table."

Peggy sighed throwing a tabloid newspaper in the trash, "I guess today's tabloid is wrong."

Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter elope in Vegas

"Why are you reading that stuff?" Coulson pointed to the trash can.

"I find it humerous. In a toxic vile way. Here," She handed a file of papers over, "I've isolated strategic variations on each of the possible bases. Entrance and exit strategies for various teams of agents." Peggy stood up to show a bulletin board with string linking pictures on a world map.

Coulson walked to look at the board, "How cute, the whole paper and string thing in action."

"Don't let Daisy see." Peggy sighed, "I've done the research for Ward's history of tactics and I believe his base is here." She pointed to a stretch of the amazon rain forest. "There's digital copies for the whole thing. I just think better this way."

"You really do your research." Coulson would have looked impressed if it was possible for him to underestimate Peggy, "Now do yourself a favor and call Steve."

She didn't call Steve until 3 days later. Peggy started with the voice mail.

"Peggy I'm sorry. Please come back so we can talk about it… or not talk about it. I don't know… I'm sorry."

"I guess you're still on the plane… just call me okay?"

"Okay it's been 2 days, are you still mad? I guess you are. I'm going to start calling Coulson to get you to call me."

The last message was yesterday

"Fine I get it. You're really mad.. but… we found Bucky. We're heading out to North Germany tomorrow. We don't know why he's there but it's him. He's been retracing his steps. It would be great if you could come with us… nobody knows Europe like the 107th… If you don't want to and you're still mad that's fine. We can handle it, I just want you there."

"North Germany." she looked over at the map of Hydra bases. There was a suspicious lack of Hydra activity where Steve said they were going. "North Germany"

Peggy sprinted down the hall straight to Coulson's office where some others were examining a map of the recent Inhuman breakouts, "Steve and the rest of the Avengers are being lead into a trap."

"What?" the room answered in almost unison.

"They are going to obtain Bucky - the winter soldier- after following the leads; North Germany. But there's a lack of activity in that area, which is ridiculous how I haven't seen it. Every foundation of Hydra is terribly sentimental yet there's no sign of them in Germany."

"They're luring in the Avengers then?" Daisy pulled up a map of what Peggy had been working on.

Peggy eyed the map and continued, "Well, there's still a chance Bucky will be there I suppose."

Bobbi looked up their flight log, "They're almost landed. We can call them and tell them to stand down."

"I'll call." Peggy dialed as quickly as she could manage.

"May get a team together to go after them incase we have to." Coulson started throwing orders.

Peggy held the phone to her ear, God damnit answer Steve.

"Hello?" Steve answered. She could hear the background noise of the plane's engine, "Not the greatest time Peggy."

"Please tell me you're not on the ground."

"About to land. What's wrong?"

"It's a trap. I'm damn well certain Hydra is waiting for you wherever you expect to find Bucky."

"I can't take that risk Peggy. Bucky could be there. It's taken us months to find him-" The was the

"Steve please don't do this, we have time-" The words were like a broken record, but this time she was not going to lose Steve. Before he could say something else there was a loud noise like something shooting at Steve's plane before the line went dead. "God Damnit!" She looked at the office, "How long until we can be there?"

Bobbi looked at the map, "4 hours..."

"Make it 3 we're shipping out in 20 minutes.." Peggy turned to prepare herself to leave, the rest of the team followed.

.


	10. Chapter 10

By the time SHIELD arrived on the scene, everything was quiet. The wreckage of a plane not too far away from the building wasn't a good sign. The Avengers were shot down and from the look of the ground around the Hydra base, there was a fight leading up to an abandoned warehouse. "That's Wards M.O." Bobbi sighed, "places that look like they're one breeze away from falling over." She remembered being taken by Ward and tortured for what felt like a lifetime. As she remembered her leg and chest throbbed like it was happening all over again.

Hunter walked quickly behind Bobbi, "I'm going to kill Ward. I swear to god-"

"As much I'd love to assist you with your revenge plot, we are here for one reason retrieving The Avengers and getting the hell out of here." Peggy stopped, "Fitz, how does the inside of the building look."

"Pretty Empty. I think they just walked into a well loaded trap." Lots of weapons through the front and back but-"

"Please tell me there's a side door."

"Around the back of the building. Iron Man is sending a distress signal out right by the front of the door."

"That has to be a decoy." Peggy pushed the group on around the building until they were at the side doors. "How many men inside?"

"4 guarding the door inside."

May went first, "And I thought they were going to make it difficult." She ran up and bursted through the doors. Hydra got the first shot, but the next four were May's into the heads of each guard.

"I see Hydra is still adopting their stormtrooper level of aim accuracy.." Hunter held his gun up prepared for anything.

"I'm not complaining." Daisy shrugged.

"I'm getting Captains and Barton's reading down the left hallway." Fitz informed.

Daisy ran with the rest of the group in a safe formation, "How did you manage this before camera's?"

Peggy walked down the hall, opening doors as they went through. "Very… very.. carefully." She couldn't help but feel like there weren't enough people guarding this floor. It was a trap and she didn't even care, she just needed Steve and everyone else safe.

"In here." Mack called from down the hall.

Every Avenger was accounted for, "May, am I glad to see you." Natasha pointed over to the wall.

Daisy went to the panel quickly breaking into the security panel, "Never thought I'd be showing off my tech skills in front of Tony Stark."

"Yeah sure thing kid, you're the best" Tony stood up from the cell, "They left us here and left. Seems fishy."

"The definition." Peggy saw Steve laying in a slump by Tony, "What happened?"

"We got split up. Once they got me in the suit they put me here. Then awhile later they threw in Steve. The guy doesn't know how to say no to a punch." Tony explained then the doors hissed open. He picked Steve up. "Bucky's here though."

Peggy nodded, "I'll find him." She looked at Hunter and Bobbi specifically, "Get them all to the plane."

They were both visibly bitter about the order. They wanted to find Ward. They wanted to find Ward and send several rounds of ammo into his chest, and that was why Peggy gave it. "Fine." Hunter helped Natasha get Clint out into the hallway.

"You all go to the plane. I'm going to find Bucky."

"Director-!" Daisy tried to protest.

"Go!" Peggy ordered.

The team was back in the plane keeping busy to try and forget about Jemma kneeled in front of Natasha examining her chin that had a deep cut on it. They were waiting for Peggy to come back. Fitz was maneuvering a drone around searching for any sign of the Director.

Start the plane. Peggy came in through the intercom.

"Director, where are you?"

Start the plane, keep the cargo door open until it's too late!

Bobbi looked at Fitz as she flipped the switch to lower the door, "Is she asking us to leave without her?"

"Do it! I'm being chased if you must know!"

'"Director we can't leave without you. What- What is Captain America going to say when he wakes up and you're not on the plane."

"He'd say do as Peggy says."

The plane engines turned on and as it got ready to lift into the air. They could see Peggy running for the plane with someone slumped over her shoulders, "She's coming-" Mack shouted standing by the opening. He looked behind her, "And so is Hydra." As the Plane was lifting into the air Mack held his hand out for Peggy. She jumped to grab it right as he became out of reach. The hydra agents were on the ground shooting at them. Mack leaned back until Peggy could reach the floor of the plane.

Natasha pushed past Jemma to help pull the two back. Peggy collapsed once she was no longer dangling off the plane. The door closer leaving everyone speechless.

"That's why… you do as Peggy says." She panted.

Clint couldn't help but notice she was alone, "No Bucky?"

She shook her head, still laying on her back, "No Bucky… Do we know he was actually there?"

"Steve saw him." Natasha looked over at Steve who was still knocked out, "But he was separated from us long enough to get those nice eyes." Peggy couldn't help but feel like he failed. If Bucky was there that meant she left him there with Hydra, or he got away. But then what. "I know that look…" Natasha looked at Peggy, "You didn't leave him there."

"I know." Peggy nodded, "Field work is just a little different now. I'm not sure how I feel about it." She closed her eyes feeling content on the floor, she'd move eventually.

Peggy sat on the examining table holding still as Agent Simmons gave her stitches. "I guess my healing speed is normal?"

"I'd say a bit faster than usual, but nothing to write home about." She put a bandage over the last set of stitches on Peggy's cheek bone. "There you should be as good as new once those are all healed up, and there won't be a scar."

"Good, I have enough of those already." Peggy stood up and went to grab her jacket, "May I leave now?"

"You're excused, just take it easy. Call it a day and relax." Simmons suggested.

"I think I just might take that advice." Peggy left to see how Steve was doing, she should probably be looking for Bucky, or tracking down what she saw at the Hydra base, but she had more important matters to tend to. Steve didn't have a room at the Playground like she did at the Avengers Base, since he wasn't specifically apart of this faction of SHIELD but she was technically a part of the Avengers. They hadn't worked out the fine details but they guessed it would have been wasteful to make him, his own room considering their relationship. If they still had a relationship. It was a drastic idea but after the way she reacted she wouldn't blame him. Shatter her into a million pieces yes, but a part of her could understand. She opened the door to her living quarters slowly, not sure if he'd be awake or not. He wasn't. Steve was laying on his back wrapped in the soft down comforter on her large bed. Silently Peggy pulled some softer clothes that she could wear to be comfortable and went to her bathroom to change. When she was back out, Steve was still asleep. She sat down in the reclining chair in the opposite corner and watching him for a moment. The soft light in the room reminded her of the campfire light that they spent years around. He was sleeping more soundly than she'd ever seen him. Before or after the war.

Steve turned his head to the side, "What are you doing over there?"

Peggy looked away, "Well… I wasn't sure if you were angry with me so I didn't-"

Silently he opened the blanket up for her. Peggy followed without hesitation. She climbed in the bed and carefully leaned her head on his shoulder. "I was never mad at you. You were the angry one.." he sighed, eager to get back to sleep.

"I suppose I was.. I'm sorry-" the words were blocked by the threat of tears, "I should have answered. I don't know what I would have done if you… I'll tell you everything you want to know about me just.. Never do that to me again-"

"I promise." Steve kissed the top of her head, "Now let's not talk about that right now. We can talk about the other stuff later"

Peggy closed her eyes, "Yes Darling."


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Author needs time to pass between evens so she writes a few chapters of fluff.

Peggy and Steve would have stayed together for what seemed like another 60 years if her phone hadn't gone off. Her head was still resting on Steve's shoulder when she tried reaching for the side table, "I can't-" the quiet sound of a soft harp seemed too stab daggers into her head.

Steve chuckled and reached if for her, "It's your alarm."

She pulled the blanket over her head trying to ignore the sign to wake up, "Off to work I suppose." Peggy loved working, she loved her job and the fact that she was alive to do it… but not today.

"I think you've earned a day off." Steve pulled the blanket away from her face. He was certainly more awake than she was, but he was always a morning person.

She looked up at him, his poor swollen eye from their mission yesterday. "More like a century. You should stay in here and rest." Peggy forced herself up and put her feet over the edge of the bed. The muscles in her legs and torso disagreed. "Bloody hell."

"Sore?" Steve sat up.

"Yes. It doesn't matter how many hours you train in a gym, the morning after being in the field is always horrid." Peggy looked behind her at Steve, "The serum hasn't changed that."

He shrugged trying not to disturb his own bumps and bruises, "You'll run a bit faster, punch a bit harder, but we're still human.."

Peggy stood up grabbing a silk robe before going into the Bathroom. She walked out a few minutes later and went to a full length mirror to examine the various stitches from the night before, "Wonderful.."

"Is the team still here?" Steve got up and stood behind Peggy by the mirror. His hands wrapped around her.

Peggy didn't fight the embrace, "I believe so." She looked at his reflection. "Are you wanting me to tell you everything now?"

Steve shook his head, "I just want to know that you're going to tell me. Little things at a time will hold me over." His hands ran over the silk robe, "I'm glad you're speaking to me at all, really."

"I shouldn't have reacted that way. Ignoring you was not the solution." she stepped out of his arms, "I've never been good at opening up to people. Howard used to say, it would be faster to break into high security prison than get me to tell him what I did yesterday."

"I can't disagree." Steve laughed going to the bathroom with clothes offered to him by SHIELD. "Can I ask about Howard?" he shouted from behind the door.

"You can." Peggy changed while Steve was in the bathroom, by the time he was out she was putting her makeup on. "What would you like to know?" It seemed like a silly question, since Steve most likely was only concerned with one element of their possible relationship. Steve walked out of the bathroom dressed and answered with silence, "Well in the years after the war we became close friends." She filled the silence. "After I lost my friend Angie-" She put her hands down on the table in front of her. It was almost painful.

Steve stopped putting his shoes on watching Peggy. He knew Angie was more than a friend, not that it mattered in the slightest. He felt like he was making her do this, and it made him feel guilty.

Peggy took a deep breath, "I got her killed and after, I boxed myself in from everyone. If it wasn't work it wasn't something I concerned myself with. But at the SSR more often than not, Howard was work. Then when Phillips, Howard and I founded SHIELD, we spent more time together." she sniffed back the tears and laughed, "It was a terrible, terrible arrangement. Off and on for months, constantly fighting. A lot like Tony and Pepper actually, but I lack her impressive level of patience."

Her laughing cut the tension in the room. "I can see that." Steve rubbed his neck, "I'm just glad you had someone. I know how hard it was to be alone when I woke up, living with me dead couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't. It was especially difficult in the beginning, when everyone constantly reminded me that the only reason I was still working with the SSR was because they thought we were together." Peggy finished her make up. "But then once Howard and I became friends that whole thing came back." She stood up. "I guess that wasn't too hard."

Steve walked over to her, "Thank you." He kissed her, careful not to transfer her lipstick to his lips, "I feel like I know you better already."

"Good, now I need a cup of tea, and some breakfast." Peggy rubbed the lipstick off his lower lip.

Steve went to the door opening if for her as she lead the way, "I haven't been here before." He looked around, "It's not like the others were."

"The others?" Peggy looked over at him.

"Yeah before everything with Hydra. The Hub and Trikskillion, they were big and bright. This reminds me of those bunkers during the war… nice and cozy don't you think."

"I think we remember the war a bit differently." Peggy admitted, "It's the main base for the Inhuman search, which is fantastic. Something completely out of my territory but going very well."

"That's what Coulson is doing." Steve looked into a lab where Tony and Fitz were poking around with some technology.

Peggy threw in a detour and opened the door to the lab, "Tony are you behaving yourself."

Tony didn't look over, "I think so. Just teaching the kids some stuff."

"It's fascinating," Fitz was actually taking notes.

"We should sell tickets." Peggy joked, "Enjoy your tinkering."

Steve pulled Peggy back on track, he was enjoying the tour but the man was hungry. "So what are you doing in SHIELD? What's your project?"

"Well, I was locating Hydra bases for a while, examining strategy and things like that. But I'm afraid I've hit a rather abrupt standstill for the time being."

"Meaning?"

Peggy turned the corner and they could almost smell the breakfast food being prepared, "SHIELD has a rather low number of Agents. When you and Natasha unloaded every file out to the public Coulson took over they started clean. Which is exactly what I would have done but it's a tough job to create new Agents for a secret protection organization when the world knows your bases and training secrets." Peggy went on, "The hunt for Inhumans is going to well and is too important to fail all because of a low number of Agents."

Steve nodded as the problem circulated around the smell of Bacon in his head as he opened the door to the canteen. "I guess that explains why the HQ is so small."

"Precisely." She went through the line grabbing her breakfast of choice; Tea, eggs, sausage and toast. Peggy hesitated as she finished the line looking for a table for them to eat at. The whole thing was a bit too much like Elementry School for her taste. There was a hand waving from the back corner; Natasha and Clint were sitting together. "Mind if we join you?" Peggy asked out of politeness.

"No." Clint didn't look up from his phone. His voice was short and distracted.

Natasha filled them, "Cooper has a soccer tournament today. Laura is video chatting with him."

"Video chat?" Peggy hadn't heard of such a thing.

"It's like a phone call with a camera." Steve shrugged. He hadn't grasped the idea either.

Clint turned the phone around, "There now you're in the camera."

Peggy leaned forward and could see some kids running around a field, kicking a white and black ball around, "That's incredible." She leaned back.

"The plane taking us all back is leaving in an hour. I'm going there after, the games should last all day- if they do well."

They will Laura called from the other end of the phone.

"Taking another break?" Steve asked.

"Somewhat, I'll come by when you need my help but I don't want to miss too much of Nathan." Clint shrugged, "And it's Lila's Birthday soon."

"Did she pick the theme yet?" Natasha grinned.

Clint rolled his eyes, "Yeah she wants a… super hero party…"

Peggy laughed and added a packet of sugar into her tea, "That sounds wonderful."

"It's pretty cute." He reached in his bag and came out with two envelopes covered in glitter. The front had the scribbled font of 'Steve' and 'Aunt Nat', "She made everyone invitations herself."

"I get my own invitation." Steve laughed looking at the red white and blue scribbles. He hadn't spent a lot of time with the kids, the first time he met them it was a painful reminder of what he missed out on with Peggy. Now the idea of a weekend on the farm wasn't as depressing. He opened it up pulling out a plain piece of paper folded up like a card.

"Are you just using us for free entertainment?" Natasha accused.

Clint laughed, "Thor's coming, do you know how much that guy eats. Add Steve to that, and an army of 9 year olds. A clown would be cheaper."

"Will you be my Date?" Steve looked over at Peggy. "A little mini vacation."

Tell them they should stay a couple days! Laura's voice came through the speaker.

"a holiday?" Peggy thought about it, "I don't want to intrude on your family though."

It's not an intrusion, it's an order. Laura commanded.

The matter was settled. No one. Not even Peggy had clearance to say no to Laura.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve and Peggy spend some time on the farm...

The sound of wheels on the gravel road alerted Clint to the car pulling up. The kids were at school, which was good since they didn't want everything to be complete chaos. Clint opened the door and waited on the porch, "You made it!"

Peggy walked up on the porch, "You have quite the location here Clint. It's very tranquil."

"Just wait till the kids come home." He opened the door for them, "Or Natasha riles them up." Peggy checked to make sure she wasn't tracking in mud before looking at the house. The house was the warmest thing she'd seen since waking up. It was tidy but she could see the traces of actual people living there, shoes collected by the door, the TV was on, dishwasher running. Laura came out from the kitchen, "This is my wife Laura."

"Yes I saw you on the…" Peggy couldn't remember what it was called and looked to Steve.

"Oh the picture thing."

"Yes!" Peggy pinched her brow trying to think of what it was, "The phone.."

"Skype." Natasha walked in the door, "Don't hurt yourself."

Laura nodded, "Lila's so excited to meet THE Peggy Carter. Thanks to Natasha she's really into the whole spy thing. Clint will you go get some wood for the fire?"

It didn't matter how many times people told her, it was never natural to be told you were an Icon for something. When she went in the ice, she was known but she never would have guessed she was a historical figure.

"Sure, maybe we can convince Steve and Peggy to have a contest to see who can chop the most. That'll get us through the fall and winter."

"Well thank you for letting us come early. I didn't think I needed a few days off until right about now." Steve put the bags down.

"You've been so busy, I didn't think we'd ever get you back here." Laura walked to Peggy and took her by the arm, "Would you like some Tea? I think we have some left over from the last time Bruce was here..."

Steve went to the coat rack and took off his leather jacket. Natasha leaned against the wall next to him, "You haven't been back here since the Ultron fight."

"There was a reason for that." Steve looked over his shoulder at Natasha. "It was just a reminder that I could have had all this before. The family, the kids…" He looked through the living room to Laura and Peggy in the kitchen, "It's not so impossible now."

"You're a bit nauseating you know that right?" Natasha teased, "When's the wedding?"

"Oh shut up." Steve blushed, "I haven't even thought that far ahead yet. It's been a matter of trying to get to know each other, or get to know Peggy. Which- as it may seem- is even harder than it looks. She make you look transparent."

Natasha smirked, "Coming from the world's leading expert at waiting too long?"

"It has to be right." He exhaled in frustration and embarrassment, "I been looking at rings but-"

Natasha put her hand up, "Holy shit man, you're actually thinking about it?"

"Yeah." He said like it was obvious.

"Can I be your best man?" Natasha nudged him.

Steve rolled his eyes, "I can't tell you anything."

Laura put Nathan's carrier down on the porch, "Okay Barton's, everyone in their Cars!" She stopped Cooper fixing his football uniform before letting him run to the car, the kid was in every sport the small town had. If they had a cricket team she was certain he would sign up. Clint held the cooler up as he walked by, "We are going to be early for the first time in Barton history. Where's Steve and Peggy?"

They walked out in their best disguises, zip up sweatshirts, sunglasses, and Steve wearing a baseball cap. Peggy skipped the hat since she wasn't convinced it didn't make her feel silly. "Will we blend in?" Steve held his arms out proud of their handy work.

"People are pretty used to strangers wearing sunglasses and hoodies showing up with us." Laura laughed pushing them along.

"Can I go with them!" Lila jumped putting her hands together in front of Clint. "Please!"

Clint looked at Natasha who had already gotten the booster seat installed in her car, "When did you-" he waved her off, "Yeah go to the fun car!"

Natasha jumped in the driver's seat to the second car, "Come on old people!"

Peggy crossed her arms walking with Steve to the car, "Calling us that isn't as cute as you think it is." She looked at the car and then at Steve and bolted to the front passenger seat. "Shot gun!"

Steve gladly took the back seat, "Fine Lila and I are going to have a blast in the back seat."

The Bartons pulled out of the farm first since Laura was so close to being early. Natasha however took her time since they were all well entertained with Lila asking Peggy and Natasha to say things in different languages and accents. Steve was as equally entertained as Lila was. They parked the car and walked out to the almost empty bleachers where they could see the other members of the Barton Family. "Wait I thought he was in Soccer?" Steve looked over at Natasha who was carrying Lila on her shoulders.

"He is. But that season just ended and now he's playing Football, then he'll do soccer again and then it's baseball. The kid's nuts." Natasha jumped up, making Lila laugh.

"Do you do sports Lila?" Peggy leaned forward so Steve wasn't blocking her view of the girl.

She shook her head, "No. I wanna do Ballet but I don't think dad's going to let me. It's dumb."

Natasha nodded, "It does sound dumb." Peggy and Steve could see Natasha's face shut down at the idea. They both knew that kind of look but could understand that Natasha was the kind of person that to ask her would just push it deeper inside. The two looked at each other silently agreeing to discuss it later. Natasha walked up the bleachers and helped Lila jump down. "The happy family, ready for a rousing game of 12 year olds playing football?" Whatever had disturbed her, was clearly pushed away for later.

"He'll be a really good football player one day." Clint laughed taking a sip from a thermos Laura packed.

Lila looked over and started waving, "Oh can I go hang out with them!"

Laura looked over to see who the kids were, "Sure. Take your coat, check in every once and awhile." She was rocking Nathan's carrier with her foot. Lila skip down the stairs and ran off with other girls her same age. "What's the worst that can happen."

Clint looked over, "You know every time you say that something terrible happens."

"That's not true. I say it all the time, and good things happen sometimes." Laura held her finger up to protest.

"She's going to come back crying by halftime because some kid pushed her into mud." Clint watched Lila running, "Or something else that could happen."

Laura put her hand on Clint's cheek and patted it a few times, "Put the bow away Hawkeye and watch the game. You have the best Agent in the history of SHIELD, whatever identity Natasha is going with this week, and the guy that ended World War II. We're fine."

Clint rolled his eyes and leaned back so he was resting on the bench behind him. The game went slowly as the kids jogged with the ball up and down the court without really making any game moves.

Natasha sighed and looked back at Clint, "Why don't you want Lila to do ballet?"

Laura rolled her eyes, "Not this again."

Clint looked between them, "How do you know about that?"

Peggy decided to pull Natasha out of the frying pan, "I asked her if she was doing sports since Cooper is so involved."

"She'd like to be." Laura put her eyes back on the game.

"Is this you trying to protect her, or is this you thinking I'll have a problem with it?" Natasha turned to face Clint.

Clint shrugged and took a deep breath, "Both? I don't know, out of the people I know that did ballet there's a 100 percent chance of it being terrible."

Natasha laughed at how ridiculous of an opinion he had, "Right because it was the arabesques that made the Bolshoi terrible." She held up air quotes around the words Bolshoi.

"The Bolshoi?" Steve raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know that."

Peggy intercepted, "It wasn't really."

"You read my file?"

She shook her head, "No, that whole operation was around in my day."

"Our day?" Steve asked.

"No, my day." Peggy clarified, "It's a rather long story that I don't really feel like sharing due to this being a highly public event."

"Agreed, but to get back on track- You should let Lila do it. She could be good, and she could have fun doing it."

Clint nodded, "I'm just trying to protect her from our world. But you're right, she'd have fun doing it." He looked down at Nathan bundled up in the carrier, "And as a plus, dance recitals are warmer than football games."

After the game every drove back in the same cars, Lila dozing off instead of keeping the car entertained with her antics and everyone else remaining quiet. The Barton house was still there waiting for them in the farm. Clint got out of his car by himself and went into the house alone peaking inside for a moment before giving a thumbs up. The other car came out of the car after the hesitation. Even Lila waited before getting out. Peggy hesitated, "What was that about?"

"When Clint's here, he goes in the house first. To make sure the coast is clear." Natasha got out of the car, "Not that he needs to do that anyway. The house is as well secured as some of the SHIELD bases. Thermal cameras on the entire farm, sensors. A leaf can't drop without catching it on an Alarm. Not to mention… the whole thing is invisible outside of the forest perimeter."

Peggy had almost forgotten what kind of danger Clint's family could potentially be in. He was removed, in his own place where he could protect the people around them. It made her worry about what it would be like for she and Steve to have a child, a child with an even bigger target on their backs than a child should have. She tried not to think about that again.

Natasha picked Lila up and within seconds the small girl was back asleep on Nat's shoulder. Laura offered to take her off her hands, but Natasha waved her away. Steve took his hat off then his jacket, feeling warmed up just by taking it off, "You played a good game kid," He said to Cooper when he thought no one was listening.

"We lost." Cooper raised an eyebrow at Steve, "We've lost like 3 times in a row."

"Yeah but you played a good game. Winning all the time won't be a good story, but that year you got your butts kicked, you can tell that story for years." Steve sat down at the table, "It'll be more memorable than winning every battle."

Laura came in and kissed the top of Coopers head, "Good game, go get ready for bed. The party's tomorrow so you can't sleep in."

"Used to it." Cooped rolled his eyes. He and Laura both went on their way to get ready for sleep.

Peggy walked into the kitchen but stopped to kiss Steve on the way, "You're very good with him, Steve." She said when they were alone.

"With Cooper?" Steve stood up from the table to follow her in the kitchen, "The barton kids don't make having my own seem so terrifying."

She put a kettle on the stove and leaned against the counter facing Steve, "I've jumped out of planes, disabled bombs, gone under cover… all of those things seem less frightening than what Clint does every day… Laura too." She looked down at her feet, "I'm not sure I could manage being that afraid all the time."

Steve took a step forward and pulled Peggy closer to him. He put a hand on her waist and took her hand with the other, mostly to pass the time before the water boiled, "We'd figure it out."

"We?" She looked up with a smirk.

"Yeah." Steve said confidently, "We."

Peggy thought about it for a few moments before smiling. Steve had a talent for breaking her deadpan, "I like the sound of that." He started to sway until they were dangerously close to dancing. "There's a lot of things we need to discuss before that becomes a problem."

"Like?" Steve prompted.

"A place to live?" She said simply, "I'm not sure I can manage living in-between The Playground and The Avengers base for much longer."

Steve laughed, "I think we can manage that."

Peggy walked down a dark hallway. Her gun was out and held carefully in front of her. Despite her steady hand and lethal aim, her arms were shaking. "Thompson cover-" She turned around remembering she was all alone. She didn't know where she was but it wasn't good.

She reached the end of the hall, "Peggy Carter." she remembered that voice, the women she'd been tracking for years. That's why she was there. Dottie Underwood, "Aren't I glad to see you." she was in front of Peggy at the end of the hall.

Peggy turned around noticing she was where she started out. "Where is she?!" Her voice echoed through the space. The only answer she got was laughter. "WHERE IS SHE!" Peggy shouted again.

"PEGGY!" There was a scream of pain coming from everywhere. An untraceable cry of misery.

"ANGIE?!" Peggy started running, trying to trace the noise.

"Peggy!... Peggy!..."

"Peggy…" Steve's voice pulled her out of a less than ideal dream. She imagined that to another person her dreams would be night terrors, the kind of dream that made you wake up in the middle of the night, covered in a sweat. But the bar had to be raised higher for her, given her life experience. "Peggy….".

"What could possibly be so important?" She opened one eye.

"Breakfast is ready." He sat down at the edge of the bed, "Well… Breakfast was ready… I let you sleep in. People should be arriving soonish, and by people I mean a swarm of children."

Peggy stretched and covered her face with a pillow, "Okay… okay." She sat up. "I'm going to go for a run first."

Steve could see a cold sweat on Peggy, "Bad Dream? Do you need some company?"

She shook her head, "I just need to think."

"Want to talk about it?" Steve asked mostly as a joke. He knew the answer.

Peggy actually considered it, "I believe this one wasn't a memory." It troubled her that she was never sure. "I'll be back soon." She kissed Steve's cheek, "I'll tell you when I figure it out."

He stood up and went to the door letting her change, "I trust you." He closed the door behind him.

"It's my birthday!" Lila danced around the living room.

"Yes it is!" Clint was pouring his 3rd cup of coffee that morning. Maybe his 4th.

Laura was feeding Nathan from a bottle in a large plush chair. Something about the two parent read that they were preparing to go into Battle. Clint's phone made a small chirping sound that he immediately reacted to. "Is Peggy still out running?"

"Yep." Steve was looking out the kitchen window, "Around the outside of the Farm."

Clint relaxed, "She set something off." He tapped the screen a few times and settled back into drinking his coffee.

"You know it'll save a mug if you just drink it from the coffee pot." Steve suggested.

"Laura won't let me. She says that sort of thing is for 'single Clint Barton', not married with three kids Clint Barton…. But-"

He was cut off by a crack of thunder and lighting on the front lawn, followed by a sheet of rain. "Thor!" Cooper and Lila ran out to the porch.

"NO RAIN!" Laura shouted.

"My apologies Lady Barton." Thor walked in with the two barton kids hanging off of him. "Steve my friend! It is great to see you." He carried on like the two kids weren't climbing all over his armor.

"Good to see you too." Steve laughed.

Peggy walked in off the back porch like a cat who'd been thrown in the lake, "Why do I feel like Thor had something to do with this?"

"My apologies M'lady." The two kids jumped down, "Now I believe it is the smaller princess's day of birth today."

Peggy went up to their temporary room and got dressed for the party. She hadn't had too many opportunities where she wasn't dressing to go to work, in this century. Everytime she wore Jeans she worried that she'd never wear anything else, their comfort was unlike anything she'd worn in her life.

By the time she dried her hair and put her makeup on, she walked down to the horror of a large cluster of kids. Laura was trying to direct them all outside, since she didn't want them in her house. She was trying to persuade them to play outside but they were a bit distracted by the superhero's in the house. Most of the kids were dressed up like other super heroes the team was mostly sure were fake, but there were some little Iron Man's and Captain America's. Even one black widow, which Natasha was busy teaching some self defense moves too.

"Thi is a lot of children." Peggy looked around.

"Can someone distract them?" Laura walked over to the group of adult.

Thor picked his hammer up off the counter, "Allow me… Young soldiers, let us go outside and try picking up my weapon."

Peggy gave the situation a laugh, "What's the worst that can happen there."

"Yeah, an 8 year old ruling Asgard?" Clint laughed.

Steve shrugged, "Can't be worse than Loki."

"Avengers, Assemble elsewhere. I have to get Lunch ready." Laura announced to the kitchen.

They followed their orders and went outside to watch the kids try and pick the hammer up. Peggy looked at the line of adults, "I'm not sure I understand. Is it just very heavy?"

"Thor's the only one who can pick it up." Steve explained, "Something about being worthy to rule Asgard."

"It's lame that's what it is." Clint said with a hint of bitterness. "No one on the team can pick it up."

"Well I never tried." Natasha grinned, "So you don't know if I could or couldn't."

Steve rolled his eyes, "But yeah, everyone's a bit bitter about it."

Peggy nodded, "I'm going to try it." She walked down off the porch. "Worst case scenario I rule Asgard right?"

"This can't end well…" Steve prophesied.

Peggy walked down to the patch of grass the hammed was sitting on. Apparently the grass was worthy. She started to lean down to try and pull the happed up. But in the corner of her eye she felt like she saw a ghost. Peggy stood up and looked in the direction and saw what she felt was there. A dark figure, standing away from the farm, but slowly making it's way closer. They didn't look armed but there was a metal reflection that made her feel uneasy. She tried not to alert the party to what was happening.

She ran to the porch, "There's someone on the farm. And it's not someone late for the party"

"That's impossible," Clint pulled his phone out and checked the security around the farm. Every camera was down. He ran inside, "Laura, Get everyone in the basement."

"What?!"

Clint hurried inside grabbing his bow, "Lockdown. We'll handle this." The Avengers were scrambling to get themselves together as the kids were calmly distracted back in the house. Natasha ran to the car and opened up a compartment retrieving some weapons. She threw one to Steve then to Peggy who were camped out behind the car. Within a minute the 4 of them were ready to take down whoever decided to mess with Lila's birthday party. Within two, they noticed the figure hadn't moved. Within three Steve was getting curious.

"I'm going out to figure this out." Steve started to move out of cover.

Peggy stopped him, "Yes why don't you invite him in for Tea and Cake while you're at it."

"Staying here won't solve anything either." Steve took a breath before moving outside of cover. He kept the gun pointed down, just incase the stranger was hostile. "You picked the wrong day to do this Son… Drop your weapons."

The figure held their hands up and then lowered a large bag to the ground. Slowly the reached up to their baseball cap and pulled it off, throwing it on the bag.

Steve froze, but had learned not to drop his weapon from the last time. He couldn't believe it. For months he'd combed through the entire world, and here he walked right up to them. "Bucky?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky is taken to a secret Avengers base...

The plane was silent, despite the fact that it had three people in the cabin. Three people that certainly had something to talk about. Peggy watched Steve and Bucky sit in silence for the first time in her memory. During the war they couldn't get Bucky to stop talking, telling stories about Steve as a kid, whatever trouble they got themselves into. But now the tension could be cut with a dull knife.

She stood up, "I'm going to go up front." Peggy announced. She put her hand on Bucky's shoulder. "It's nice to see you Bucky."

He nodded keeping his eyes fixed on the window of the plane. The sound of Peggy walking and the door opening then closing was crystal clear. "I'm sorry… Steve."

"Sorry?" Steve shook his head, "You don't have anything to be sorry for. This isn't your fault." The silence settled back, "What have you been doing?"

"Trying to figure everything out, keeping out of Hydra's radar, I should have come to you sooner." Bucky said quietly, "I didn't want to come when I didn't remember, but I kept seeing pictures of you and then whenever I got close something happened, or I remembered something I didn't want to-"

"It doesn't matter Buck." Steve assured, "None of it matters. I'm not letting them get to you again."

Bucky laughed like Steve didn't know what he was saying, "You don't know what I've done. It matters."

"You're still my best friend. I don't care what happened. If everyone on my team was busy being judged by the darkest chapter in their book there wouldn't be a team."

They sat back in silence for a few more minutes, "So.." Bucky changed the conversation, "When are you going to ask her to marry you?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "I guess you found your sense of humor."

Bucky shrugged with one shoulder, "Amongst other things."

Peggy sat up next to Natasha watching her fly the plane. She never learned how to fly, nor was she really interested, she was more interested in jumping out of them than flying them. "How long until we're at the mystery destination?"

"About an hour." Natasha checked her phone.

"Shouldn't there be a rule about texting and flying." Peggy teased.

Nat smirked, "It's practically on autopilot. Anyway, Clint says the party is going fine and there's no sign of Hydra or anyone else anywhere. And Thor is keeping everyone very well entertained."

"I can imagine it." Peggy relaxed back in the seat, "Where is the mystery destination?"

"It's a secret base in Colorado. Well removed from everything. It used to be some Stark retreat house, but Tony turned it into a safe house. No one knows about it except for Steve, Tony and I.. and well now you."

Peggy nodded, "No SHIELD." She didn't like how many secrets were forming between the two groups. It's not like it could be avoided since SHIELD didn't technically exist for a few years. "He seems like he's doing alright, but that seems too idealist."

"That seems to be your default." Natasha switched some switches above her, "Idealistic, or angry."

"Or asleep." Peggy crossed her leg and brushed something invisible off her pants, "So… has Steve said anything to you about… anything…"

Natasha laughed, "And you're the women they sent interrogate people?"

"I guess I might be a little rusty." Peggy sighed.

Peggy was laying on the couch reading one of the many books people were putting on her list. Currently it was Harry Potter, though it was written for children she was enjoying it. She heard Steve walking down the hall, "How is he?"

"He's fine, considering." He walked over and lifted her legs and sat under them. "I keep thinking about how surreal this is." Steve sighed, "The two people that mean more than anything to me are alive."

"And we're not fighting the Germans." Peggy put the book down and watched Steve, "You look tired."

He shrugged, "If I go to bed, I might wake up and realize this is all a dream."

Peggy sat up from lounging, "It's not a dream." She checked her phone at several texts from a concerned SHIELD Co-Director. "I've discovered that in this day and age; when you go missing for a few hours, people notice."

"Coulson?" Steve guessed.

"Yes. But not an emergency, just Coulson." She put the phone down, "Lila's party reminded me of our situation."

"Which situation?"

She sighed, "The public figure situation. I didn't know it was like that. It's hard to see that so many people remembered me."

"You'll get used to it." Steve assured, "If you get enough kids to like you, you'll have more SHIELD Agents than you'll know what to do with."

"I'm not sure I'm as popular with children as Thor." Peggy stopped to think about what he said. Somewhere inside her brain she had an idea, and she suspected wouldn't be able to sleep until she realized what it was.

Steve stood up, "I'm going to go to sleep for a bit. Will you join me?"

"In a moment." She stood up from the couch going to her bag in the corner searching for a notepad.

Steve figured 'a moment' was a bit of an understatement. "Night Peg."

"Good night Steve." She clicked her pen a few times and went straight to work.

After what felt like 10 minutes to Peggy, Steve walked back out into the living area. His hair was disheveled and he looked like he could use a few more hours of sleep. "How has your moment been?" He went to the kitchen looking for something worth eating in their limited pantry.

"I'll come to bed now, I think I've done all I can do at the moment-"

"It's been five hours Peg." Steve pulled out some eggs.

Peggy looked for a clock. Damnit, he was right. "I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"You can make it up to me by going and getting some sleep."

She picked up the sprawled out papers around her and yawned, "Sure thing, Captain."

He rolled his eyes and cracked a few eggs in a pan. It didn't take long before someone walked into the kitchen hoping for some breakfast. When he saw Bucky there everything snapped back. He didn't forget why they were there, or that Bucky was here, but he seemed better; a little less shaken. "Hungry?"

Bucky nodded, "Yeah, I haven't had anything good to eat in a while."

"Well, don't get your hopes too high." Steve scraped some eggs onto a plate, getting ready to make himself some more, "It's just my cooking."

"I never spat anything out you cooked." Bucky was putting a hearty effort to try and make himself like he was. He was well aware of the sensation of Phantom Limbs. There were times he could swear he could feel with his hands, but he had no idea it could happen with his personality. If the situation was right he could slip into his old habits, but so far Steve's the only one that gets him to do it. "Is Peggy asleep?"

"I just made her go to sleep. She was working on something." Steve cracked a few more eggs in a pan. One day he was going to figure out how many eggs the Avengers went through. So far he'd only made food for himself and Bucky and they were almost out.

Bucky looked at the fork Steve had put on the plate for him for a moment before picking it up. He had to remind himself how to hold it. Had it really been that long since he'd used a fork. "I guess things haven't changed much with her." It was phrased more like a question.

"She still works like she has something to prove. I don't think that's going away any time soon." Steve looked down the hall as far as he could see, "Is Natasha asleep?"

"I think she went to bed once she was convinced I wasn't going to kill everyone in their sleep." Bucky had a glimpse of himself, "I suppose I'll have to get used to that."

"Don't take it personally, Natasha is a little skeptical of everyone."

Bucky stabbed a few curds of egg onto his fork, "I know I'd be skeptical of me. A brainwashed assassin comes out of nowhere looking for help. Sounds a bit out there."

"Not the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Talk to me when a portal opens up over New York City." Steve pointed the spatula at Bucky for emphasis. "I'm just glad you're here. I don't care why."

"That loyalty is going to get you in trouble one day Steve."

Steve shrugged, "I think we handle trouble just fine."


	14. The Color Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peggy and Steve celebrate Veterans day...

Quickly after Steve and Bucky finished their breakfast and their conversation, the door to the hideout opened. "Mr. Stark would like to let you know he has arrived."

"I apologize in advance." Steve took both of their plates into the kitchen.

Pepper's heals could be heard down the hall, "We just got back from an opening in Seattle, so his behavior could go either way." She had gotten used to apologizing for her boyfriend. She saw Bucky sitting at the counter, "I should introduce myself, I'm Pepper Potts." she extended a hand.

Bucky shook her hand, following what he was raised to do. "Bucky," the name felt strange to say, like a fake name- not that Hydra gave him a second one. "But you've probably heard of me."

Tony walked in next, "Yeah, Steve's told s all about you. I swear, if it wasn't for Peggy people would get the wrong idea."

"Tony." Pepper scolded.

"Let's cut to the chase, I want to see the inside of that arm." Tony ignored Pepper.

Bucky looked over at Steve, "He looks failiar."

"He's Howard's son." Steve felt bad for not explaining everything before, "We knew him in the war."

"We saw him somewhere else.." Bucky tried to think, "Something about a car.."

Steve laughed, "Right! The flying car."

"It didn't work, that I remember." Bucky smiled.

"You know that's one of the first things Steve brought up too." Tony rolled his eyes, "Turns out flying cars are a bit unrealistic to a public market."

"Said the man who flies around in a metal suit." Pepper gave him an incredulous look.

He held his hands out as if to say 'what do you want from me women?' and clarified, "I said public market. I can make myself whatever I want."

Bucky stood up, "I guess I should let you mess around with this thing."

"Just to make sure it's working okay… and you know… how it works." Tony shrugged and walked with Bucky back to the lab, leaving Steve and Pepper.

"How was staying with Clint?" Pepper asked.

Steve leaned back against the counter, "It was good. Peggy and I had a good time. The kids are cute." He looked around, to check if the coast was clear to talk about something he needed to get off his chest. Steve walked closer so no one could over hear them, "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"I suppose so." She kept her voice down. "What do you need."

"A…" Steve took a deep breath and turned bright red, "An engagement ring.." he whispered so even Pepper could barely hear,

Pepper's mouth went agape, "Really?!" she hissed, "Of course!"

"I could probably figure it out, but I don't want to get something that she wouldn't like, or worse get caught-" Steve rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't even worry about it Steve." Pepper insisted, "Do you want to create one or are you just shopping for one."

Steve looked at her hesitantly, "I didn't know that was possible."

Pepper smiled, seeing Steve out of his element was always adorable, "Yeah, I'll set up a meeting for when we're back in New York with someone who knows what they're doing and I'll help you figure something out.

Steve sighed in relief, "Thank you Pepper. You're a lifesaver."

"I'll be expecting an invitation to the Avengers any day now."

"Oh my god why am I doing this?" Steve paced back and forth in a side room. They were all invited to a rather elaborate Veterans day party in Washington DC. Probably because of Peggy and Steve's… revival of sorts, but the country had embraced it's patriotism. "What a terrible day to do this. I'm calling it off. I'm just going to do it.. never." he was almost becoming unhinged. Sam and Bucky were there helping through his crisis. The tie of his old WWII uniform was completely untied and his shirt was a mess.

Sam was dressed in his more modern uniform from his days before joining The Avengers, and someone- probably Natasha- had even convinced Bucky to wear the 40's uniform. Steve wasn't convinced Bucky wasn't suffering through this whole thing. The last thing that he wanted to happen was for anyone to be Triggered but the whole thing. "Steve you gotta calm down. What do you really think she'll say? No?"

"It's just that… it shouldn't be happening. It needs to be perfect because it's so remarkable that everything lined up together. And I'm doing it at a stupid Veterans day party?"

"Natasha thought it was clever." Bucky tried to console his friend, "Just wait for the right moment, walk out there and pretend that everything is fine."

"Right.." Steve took a few breaths, "Everything is fine, and I don't have a ring in my pocket." He repeated it a few more times.

Sam shook his head, "I've seen you jump off planes with no parachute before, walk in front of bullets, You're fine. Fix yourself, and get your ass out there before everyone notices that you're in here freaking out."

Steve fixed his jacket and then his tie repeating, "I'm fine" until he actually believed it for a second. "Alright. You're right!"

"I'm aware." Sam stood up and opened the door, "Now get your ass out there."

Steve walked down the hall and into the party, quickly looking around for Peggy. All around were people in various uniforms that made his worn out greenish brown stand out. "Steve!" Peggy called from behind him.

He turned around and froze. Seeing her, was like walking straight into a dream. Her hair, her clothes, her makeup, everything down to the last detail was exactly how she used to be. "You look amazing-"

Peggy stepped forward fixing his collar, "Thank you. I felt it was a bit theatrical, but Pepper insisted. It's probably a good photo opportunity or something."

Steve looked back at the crowd, noticing how diplomatic the whole thing felt, "Let's go find some people who haven't been elected into being here." He reached for her hand pulling her to where he thought he saw Tony.

They walked up to a table where Rhodey, Tony and a few other people neither of them recognized were listening to Rhodey talk, "And I dropped it outside his door and went- 'BOOM, lookin' for this?" Everyone laughed except for Tony. He got up once he saw Peggy and Steve.

"Thank god you here, I can finally get away from Rhodey telling that story again." Tony looked at the two of them, "Why don't you two look dapper." He gave an embellished hand gesture, "Thank you for your service you brave souls."

"Do you know how long we have to stay?" Peggy asked looking around.

"You don't like it?" Steve's stomach sank. Abort abort abort abort..

Peggy shrugged, "It seems so stiff and unemotional."

"Get used to it." Tony raised his hand to catch Peppers attention. She quickly came over with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Our wonderful elder couple wants to ditch."

"That's not what I said and you know it." Peggy scolded.

Pepper scoffed, "I don't blame you. Remind me to let you throw a party instead next year. You guys should get out of here. Today probably means more to you than standing around at a political party." Steve was trying to figure Pepper out and at that moment he realized she planned the whole thing.

"Yeah…" Steve said slowly, "Let's go to some of the monuments, it's dark no one will see us… I think I know a good place."

Peggy relaxed feeling complete relief. "Please lead the way."

Hours later Peggy and Steve were still on their evening aventures to nowhere. They had gone to look at every memorial in the Washington Mall without a single disturbance. Everything had gone so smoothly he even forgot about the weight in his pocket. They walked with their arms linked beside the reflecting pool. The only sound was the fountains around them and the occasional tourist, "I guess it's only natural we see the WWII memorial last." Their last stop was getting close and the lights and fountains stopped being in front of them, and settled in around them. Peggy stopped in front of a plaque with a large Patriotic wreath in front of it. The bright red made Steve remember why they were there.

"Did you know I was colorblind before the Serum?" Steve broke their silence.

"Yes I remember hearing about it." Peggy leaned on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I couldn't really see red." He sighed. "Blues were fine and everything else was this shade of Yellow. I knew I was color blind, obviously but I never really knew what I was missing until I came out of that capsule and saw something red for the first time." Steve looked down at Peggy and picked up her hands to see the red nail polish. "It was your lipstick."

Peggy leaned up from his shoulder and looked him in the eye, "What was?"

"The first time I ever saw the color red. And your nails. And when you talked to me, everything was just brighter. When I woke up after the 70 years, things weren't as bright. Nothing was, until you came back…" Steve took a deep breath, "I don't want to live without you Peggy. I'm tired of waiting." He reached into his pocket and pulled the ring out before kneeling down. "Will you marry me?"

Peggy didn't notice she had started crying until she went to reply, "Of course Steve. Of course." She offered her hand to him as he slid the ring on.

He stood up and picked her up, spinning around before kissing her. "I love you, more than words than I have the words for."

"Then don't say anymore." She wrapped her arms around his neck, forgetting about everything in the world except for him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the team finds out they have a new man to hunt...

Peggy woke up feeling Steve’s arm wrapped around her like usual, but what made this morning special was his hand resting on her back without the barrier of a shirt. She burrowed herself into the blanket again moving closer to Steve once she felt the ring on her finger. The details of their night seem clouded but she knew one thing, he did not disappoint. “Good morning.” Peggy for the first time in her life was a morning person. 

Steve smiled once he saw her, “Not a dream.” He moved his hands off of her and rolled onto his back to stretch.

“Should we get room service before joining the world again.” Peggy reached over to the side table, picking up a binder filled with information on their room. She pulled up the blanket against her front and leaned up to read the menu.

Steve looked down her back, blushing a bit at the thought of last night's activities. The more he looked the more he could notice the collections of scars on Peggy. Two bullet holes on her shoulder stuck out along with the side effects of a knife. He brushed his hand along the ridged length of a scar that crossed her back, causing Peggy to flinch. “Sorry, I just haven’t noticed those.”

Peggy kept her focus on the paper, “I’ve quite known how to answer that.” She could feel Steve finish tracing the scar given to her by a 12 year old assassin. “Most of them were from the Red Room investigations, a few others were from the war.” Peggy reached behind her and felt her right shoulder where there were the two gunshot wounds. “I got these two by saving Colonel Phillips before I was in the SSR.” She leaned back down keeping the blanket tucked around her. 

“I didn’t know about that.” Steve reached for the menu looking himself. 

“He’d been captured behind enemy lines and I was working as a spy at the time. I managed to get ahold of Howard who owed me a favor from when I saved his neck in Poland one time.” she fiddled with her wedding ring, “I pushed him out of the way of the two shots, but I got hit… I was off duty for far too long, but he knew I was a capable fighter which is why he put me in the SSR with him.”

“I guess they’re two lucky shots.” Steve smiled. 

Peggy cracked a smile, “Well, my opinions on them come and go. It’s hard to go undercover with two rather recognizable scars. Amongst others.”

Steve kissed the top of her shoulder, “I like them. They make you look dangerous.” 

She ran her hand through his hair, “That I am Captain Rogers.”

“Yes Agent Rogers…” He looked up at her, “Are you going to change your name?”  
Peggy hadn’t ever thought about it. After the war there was no choice, she would have taken his last name. But now that there was the option. “I’m not sure actually. What are your thoughts?”

Steve shrugged, “It seems like a silly detail. I don’t think I could live with the guilt of taking Margaret Carter away from the world. I think you should keep it.”

“Margaret Rogers…” Peggy tested the sound, “I’ll have to think about it.” She laughed, “Steve Carter.”

They both laughed, “I’d much rather pick out breakfast.” He set the menu aside, “I’ll call, my dear.”

“Thank you darling.” Peggy moved her feet over the side of the bed wrapping the thin top sheet around her to gather up her clothes on the way to the bathroom. She picked up Steves shirt and threw it at him, “We’re going to get such shit from everyone about this.”

“Worth it.” Steve grinned.

 

“Hail the conquering hero!” Sam shouted from the lunch table. The Avengers were half assembled with Tony, Sam, Steve and Natasha sitting around the table. Bucky was there, but he wasn’t interested in signing up to be apart of Earth's mightiest hero quite yet. “Engaged and laid all in one night.”

Natasha laughed, “About damn time.”

“I’m assuming she knew what she was doing. “ Tony laughed, “She probably gave fella’s a run for their money in the good ol’ days.”

“Fella’s, meaning your dad.” Natasha pointed out, receiving an overall sound of displeasure at the idea. Mostly from Tony.

“Bad form Romanov!” Bucky pointed out. Natasha shrugged not feeling the least bit regretful. “So now you have to plan a wedding.”

Steve nodded, “Yeah, neither of us are really looking forward to the planning. I think I might care more than Peggy does.”

“Dibs on planning the Bachelor party!” Natasha finished her lunch.

“No.” Steve said quickly, “Please no. Please nothing crazy.”

Natasha grinned, “Steve when have I ever done anything crazy?” 

Peggy slammed through the doors, “Where's Bucky?-” she stopped seeing him at the table.   
“What happened?” Bucky asked as the table turned.

Peggy held her phone up, “I just got a call from Coulson. He said his team just saw the winter soldier. Two Agents were shot, and in critical condition.” 

“I thought we solved that problem.” Sam pointed to Bucky. “He's been here since we got back from DC.”

Steve tried to make sense of it, “How is that possible?” He refused to believe Bucky had anything to do with it. 

“Did they get a picture.” Bucky stood up.

“I believe so, but I can't work this damn thing. Coulson knew you all were looking so he sent over everything he had. Can you get them.” Peggy instead handed Natasha the phone. 

“Sure thing, Director Rogers..” Natasha stood up taking the phone out to an office. 

Steve turned to face Peggy, “How did SHIELD find out about us looking.” 

“I told them.” Peggy put her hands on her hips feeling the potential argument starting. “They’re out in the field a lot- Is this really the thing you’d like to talk about right now?”

“It was classified.” Steve argued.

Peggy put her hand up, “It’s my job to decide what’s classified. There’s no need for The Avengers and SHIELD to keep so many secrets. But this is not the problem right now. Right now, the problem is the fact that there’s another killer out there that no one knew about.”

“Who got hurt?” Sam got up. 

“Agents Johnson and Morse… they should be fine though.”

Bucky nodded, “Then they weren’t the targets. Which is good.”

“Well let’s figure this out,” Steve stood up with the rest of them and walked to where Natasha was trying to pull the pictures up.

Natasha pulled the picture up, “It was taken off The Bus’s outside camera.” 

Bucky and Peggy looked as close as possible to the picture, “Female?” Peggy guessed.

“There was only one other one I can remember.” Bucky wrapped his real arm across his chest and hooked his hand on his neck. Crossing his arms always felt weird.. “And they didn’t like the results. They probably didn’t trust her because she was a woman and she was a civilian before they grabbed her.” Natasha and Peggy rolled their eyes.

“Right it was the Russians who figured out women made better assassins.” Tony laughed, “I could have told them that.”

Natasha sat down, “Hydra and The Red Room worked together after the war and after Mrs. Rogers dismantled them.” 

Peggy ignored the comment, “They dispersed into SHIELD and the KGB was more than willing to assist. Leviathan is responsible for whoever the second assassin is.” She paced, “I feel like I know but it's not there. I don't remember anything else about them and I spent 5 years hunting them down.” 

“Well we'll try and lure this one in.” Steve looked at the picture, “Get them away from Hydra before anyone else gets hurt.” He walked out. 

Peggy walked after him, “Steve wait.” 

“Just give me a minute Peggy.” He stopped to face her.”

“We should talk about this.” She was close behind him.

Steve stopped, “Fine, what do you want to talk about. The fact that you gave SHIELD all the information we have on Bucky without telling me.”

“That was before.” she deflected, “Why don't you trust that I know what I'm doing?”

“Because… you didn't talk to me about it.” 

Peggy sighed, knowing she acted poorly. “I'm sorry. I won't do it again, but SHIELD is different. It was only Coulson.” she looked around, “I can't help but feel like you're overreacting a bit, it was your idea to have The Avengers and SHIELD work together.”

He sighed, “I know I am… I just thought I was all done with this. I don't think there's a way to stop this one, Bucky only stopped because it was me. And if Hydra has this, they're stronger than we thought.” 

“I know. Being angry with me won't help.” Peggy took his hand, “Alright?”

“Alright.” He wrapped his arms around her and gave Peggy a kiss, “I’m not angry… Are you flying to the Playground now.” 

Peggy nodded, “I should go figure out what happened from the source.”

“Should I come with you?” He suggested. The rift between SHIELD and The Avengers was a recipe for disaster. “I’ve only been there once, I should go again.” 

“If you’d like… Everyone loves you there. They’ll like hearing the news.” Peggy laughed, “The plane will leave in an hour.” She kissed him on the lips again, “and we’ll figure this out.”

Steve pulled back, “But there’s a rather important thing we need to discuss.”

Peggy tilted her head, “Yes?” 

“Will Natasha be a Grooms-woman or Bridesmaid? ” Steve laughed.

She walked past Steve to their room so she could pack, “Whatever she needs to be so she doesn’t throw my Bachelorette party.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the new Winter Soldier is someone Peggy thought she lost...

Steve looked around the labyrinthine maze of The Playground. It always felt like a professional place, with everyone quickly hustling around to take down whichever bad guy was on the radar for that day. Today seemed different, and that was probably because of the Agents who were hurt. He was holding two bouquets of flowers knowing how much things that like really helped. Peggy opened the glass door where the two Agents, Daisy and Bobbi were laying in medical beds, “Is now a bad time?” Peggy smiled at Jemma. 

Jemma grinned, “Nothing medically wrong with the timing.”

“We just came to make sure you two were alright.” Peggy looked between the two of them. 

Daisy tried to sit up but stopped once the muscles in her stomach around the gun shot stopped her, “That’s nice of you.”

Steve walked over to put the flowers next to both of them. Once Daisy saw her bouquet of Daisy’s she smiled even bigger, “One day I’ll get sick of the pun, but today’s not that day.” 

“I guess there’s nothing funny you could do with my name.” Bobbi muttered. Out of the two of them she was in the worst shape. “The patriotic get well soon card helps though.” 

Steve shrugged, “I know how hard The Winter Soldier shoots.” 

“Who was that guy?” Daisy asked.

Peggy watched Steve trying to figure out what to say, “I believe it's classified.” 

“For now.” Steve looked at the two of them, “You two deserve to know-.”

Daisy interrupted Steve, “Yeah that's all cool but!... is Carter wearing an engagement ring?” 

Peggy rolled her eyes, “That didn't take long.” she took the ring off and slipped it into her pocket, “I’ll do this before everyone finds out.”

 

Coulson sat in his office listening to Steve explain The Winter Soldier. Steve was still hesitant, he wanted to protect Bucky as much as possible. The last thing he wanted was for people to blame him for whatever Hydra made him do. Part of him stayed professional but there was still apart of him that could never get used to Steve talking to him. Peggy walked around the office looking at the many gadgets on display. Some of them she even used. “So if you guys have found The Winter Soldier, who is he?”

“Well…” Steve looked at a howling commando's photo on Coulson's wall. “It’s Bucky Barnes.”

Coulson laughed, “No shit.”

Peggy laughed, “I had a similar reaction.”

“Then who is this new Winter Soldier?”

“We don’t know, that’s why we’re so concerned.” Steve looked at Peggy, “I think it’s time The Avengers and SHIELD officially teamed up. Now that we can be certain-”

“That we’re not Hydra?” Coulson filled in the gap, “Yeah, no one can blame you for keeping your distance. How’s the Iron Man going to take that?”

Steve shrugged, “Well… he’ll learn to like it.” It was more of a question, “I think he trusts Peggy.”

Coulson turned in his chair, “I think you being here has saved the world from a massive Civil War.” 

“I’m starting to believe that as well.” Peggy nodded and moved onto another case. A gold tube of lipstick with “Sweet Dreams” imprinted on the side stuck out to her, “Your collection of my things is rather impressive.” 

“What can I say?” Coulson stood up, “Your gadgets were too good to resist… congratulations on the engagement by the way.” 

Peggy crossed her arms, “How did you find out?”

“You told Simmons. Everyone in SHIELD probably knows. The Agents aren’t the best with keeping non classified secrets to themselves.”

Steve laughed, “Remind me to make everything classified then.”

“It always works for me.” Coulson stood up.

 

Peggy sat in the living area with the other close member of the team. They had pulled together a small engagement party of sorts, as best as they could The only one missing was Fitz- who was doing some data collecting from the mission. He was determined that somewhere there had to be better footage of The ‘New’ Winter Soldier. Hunter stood up from the couch where Bobbi was carefully sitting. The bumps bruises and scrapes left over from the mission were showing themselves in the way it hurt for her to do anything. Hunter opened a second bottle of champagne, “To the happy couple. Though I think all of Britain is hurt by your act of treason against us.” 

Peggy shrugged, “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Though not the first time I’ve been threatened with the noose.”

Daisy laughed as Hunter filled her glass, “Is that slang for something?”

“No.” Peggy laughed, “Thanks to Howard Stark and Joseph Mccarthy, I was tried for espionage against many of the allies before I died… temporarily. I was hung by the Germans close to the beginning of the war, thankfully the person doing the tying didn’t know you had to do the math.”

“Hate it when that happens..” May cracked a smile.

“Jesus.” Hunter muttered, “Know any other parlor tricks?”

“Unfortunately no.” Peggy couldn’t ignore that the Champagne was helping her open up. While the serum made her faster and stronger, it didn’t have the effect on her metabolism like it did Steve. “Unless withstanding torture counts.”

The room chuckled despite the dark humor of the whole thing. “They wrote chapters in the old SHIELD handbook about your methods of keeping your composure through interrogations. “ Jemma-the teams leading expert on Agent Carter, if you didn’t count Steve- informed. 

“On being tortured or torturing?” Steve inquired.

“Both-” 

Jemma was cut off by Fitz running in. “I think I found something from some of the weapon cameras and the drones, I flew around as precautionary protection.” He handed a tablet over to Coulson, “There’s no record of her in any of the SHIELD or old Hydra files from the leak.”

Coulson enlarged the picture, “I don’t think I recognize her either.”

Peggy held her hand out, “May I?” It could have been older Agents who had gone missing, one of the people she remembered from her Red Room investigations. She took the tablet in her hands, and after getting a good look she dropped the tablet.

Before it could hit the ground Steve grabbed it, “Who is it?” 

Peggy leaned forward, holding her head in her hands, “It’s…”

“You recognize her?” Coulson and the rest of the team were metaphorically sitting on the edge of their seats.

“Yes.” Peggy could feel her stomach in her chest. She felt like she was going to be sick. If she didn’t consider her situation, she’d think it was impossible. “The assassin is… Angie Martinelli.” The room was still silent, only Steve understanding the gravity of the situation- piecing together the few, non details Peggy allowed him to have. “She was my… my friend and I thought she died a long time ago. She was taken as leverage for me to come after her…” 

Steve put his arm around her, “We’ll get her. We brought Bucky back, we can bring her back too.”

That was what Peggy was afraid of.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve learns who Angie was to Peggy...

With the engagement party of sorts broken up, thanks to the news of Angie being alive and also being The new Winter Soldier. Peggy tucked herself away in her office trying to figure out a plan that wasn’t crazy… and avoiding Steve. Steve opened the door with a knock, “You know knocking as you enter a room isn’t really the order you should do things.”

Steve shrugged, “I didn’t want to give you the option to tell me to go away.”

“Now Steve don’t be ridiculous, when have I-” She stopped knowing that she’d done that before. Right before Steve ran off to try and rescue Bucky. “I suppose you’re here to get me to go relax or eat or something else entirely frivolous.”

“I wouldn’t really qualify food and sleep as optional.” Steve walked around her desk to see the papers she was holding, “Have you found anything?”

Peggy looked down at the mess of papers, “All of this information and not a single thing useful. There was more in Bucky’s file and most of that was redacted.”

Steve nodded, “That’s how people do things I guess..” He put his arm around her, trying to console her even though he wasn’t really sure there was anything he could do. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She knew his phrasing well enough that this was Steve Rogers politely demanding to know what’s going on. “Do I have a choice?”

“Of course.” He stopped seeing a picture of Peggy and Angie, sitting around a patio table somewhere on a tropical beach. “That’s her?”

Peggy inhaled, “Yes it was.”

“Still is.” escaped his lips less than a second after, “We will get her back.” Steve turned back to the table, “Where is this?”

“Oh it was in Hawaii. Howard made us go for Christmas in ‘46. Angie and I, Jarvis and Anna.” Peggy smiled, “Poor Howard was alone.”

“I bet that didn’t last for long.” Steve put the picture down, “Like father like.. well people tell me Tony used to do that sort of thing. I guess being with Pepper has made him behave.”

“As much as he's genetically able to.” Peggy kept her eyes on the picture. “I know considering Angie and I having a previous relationship makes this complicated. You don't want to know about this-” she looked at a picture of Angie, Peggy and Jarvis playing poker. 

Steve sorted through some other pictures, “Of course I do. I don't care about it Peggy.” He put his hands on her shoulders, “I'm glad you were happy when I couldn't be there. You deserved to be happy, with Howard, or Angie or whoever else… I just want to know something about her.” 

“You would have liked her.” Peggy rested her head against Steve's chest. “She was lively, and damn funny too. She wanted to be an actress on Broadway, but that never really worked out. Hollywood did she could have been a great actress.” 

“How’d she… yah know?”

“Leviathan took her to lure me in. I went to Russia to hunt her down. The SSR didn't sanction it so I went alone.” she pulled Steve's arms around her tight. “I got captured, a few months later the SSR found me.”

“Months?” Steve hoped he misheard.

Peggy nodded but stayed quiet for a while more. “I don't remember much. It all just felt like a long nightmare. Torture… experiments.. I went for Angie and failed...” Peggy felt the flood gates in her head open, and she wasn't sure if she could close them. “.. They got into my brain. They..” Peggy pushed her head into Steve’s chest and started to cry. She wasn’t immune to tears, but she always tried to be around other people. When Steve’s radio cut out she cried- of course- but she was alone. With Angie, she never had a reason to cry. And with Howard… well... Howard did a lot of crying.

Steve held her close, “It’s okay Peg. You’re okay.” He could have guessed but, he wouldn’t have dared guess it was that bad. 

“I haven’t told anyone about that.” She said through the tears. “I don’t want to think about what they’ve done to her.”

“I know.” Steve smoothed out Peggy’s hair while she sobbed into his chest, “Trust me, I know. After seeing Bucky I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. The regret, the guilt-”

Peggy searched in her pocket for a handkerchief (she insisted on having one out of habit) to wipe her eyes and save what makeup was left, “What a pair or we.” 

Steve took the swatch of cloth and dabbed her cheeks where she’d missed, “Quite a pair.”

 

“Wait so we’re working with SHIELD now?” Tony looked up from his phone, where he’d been the whole meeting. “Is that why you brought us… here?” 

The Avengers had gathered to try and figure out a strategy for obtaining the second Winter Soldier, even Wanda was there despite her attempts to ignore the fact she’d be working with Stark. “They’re a whole new organization.” Natasha defended, “Mostly figuring out the inhuman outbreaks. Peggy has everything under control so far… speaking of which” Everyone was gathered… except Peggy, “Where is she?”

“She’s..” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit ashamed, “I might have put something in her tea to get her to sleep..”

Tony laughed, “Well.. who’s going to replace the old man’s spot when the old woman kills him.”

“I know, it’s terrible but I don’t know what else to do! It’s not that she won’t sleep, it’s that she can’t. She can’t sleep if there’s something to do, and when she sleep she has nightmares-” He didn’t know how to explain Peggy’s state of mind. Since she confessed about her time captured by The Red Room, she started working even harder. A pace that Steve didn’t know existed until he saw it. “I have no idea how to help in this situation.”

“Well we got one.” Sam pointed over to Bucky, “Number 2 can’t be that hard.”

Bucky made an unsure face, “A couple things. One, I surrendered. And two, It took me almost killing Steve for the whole thing to clear out of my head.” He scratched his stubble with his metal hand, “I guess it’s still possible, but short of almost losing Peggy it’s going to be hard.”

Steve opened a folder with information, “And Peggy would volunteer herself for her. I’m 1000 percent certain.”

“Who is she?” Tony looked at some old Pictures that were on the table of Peggy, Angie and Howard on a boat somewhere. “Peggy’s old Girlfriend?” He teased.

“Yeah.” Steve nodded.

The table froze with different reactions, the most prominent were Natasha and Sam who looked like Christmas had come early. “NO WAY!” Sam looked at the pictures.

“I knew it.” Natasha held her hand out to Tony, “Pay up.”

Steve watched them ashamed of them, “You had bets? This isn’t funny! This is serious.”

“No one’s saying it’s not..” Bucky spoke up. A hint of his old self present as he accepted some cash from Tony. “It’s just entertainingly complicating.”

“You’re telling me.” Steve made a note to somehow get better friends. “Get it out of your system now, because if you act like this in front of Peggy, you’re all dead.” He was hurt by the way everyone reacted, “Now are we going to make a plan or just sit around and gossip all day.”  
“We’ll make a plan. And it’ll be a hell of a good one.” Bucky promised, “There’s a crack in everything the KGB did.”

Natasha nodded, “And we’ll find it.”

Steve threw Natasha a folder with maps of Hydra activity, “Peggy found some places she thinks they’ll be keeping Angie and-” his phone buzzed on the table. Hesitantly Steve reached over and picked it up, seeing it was Peggy calling. “Ugh oh.”

“Something new?” Bucky leaned forward, ready for bad news.

“No… Peggy woke up.” Steve stood up, “Hopefully I’ll be back.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which SHIELD and the Avengers play nice...

A few days passed without any sightings of Angie. Without the information of seeing her, there wasn't much to go off of. Peggy walked into the lab hoping for some improvement. Jemma and Fitz were watching Tony tinker with one of Fitz’s drones, “I mean, it's pretty sleek.”

“You really think?” Fitz had been following Tony around like a lost puppy. “I have a few other prototypes-”

“Director Carter.” Jemma greeted, “You look well rested.”

Peggy shrugged, “Steve is persistently stubborn about me sleeping.”

“Peppers the same way.” Tony put the drone down, “What brings you to the Nerd department?”

“A change in scenery perhaps. I'm running out of information to go on.” she looked around the lab, at all the intense technology, “Any good news?” 

“We’re doing full scans of every security camera on the planet.” Fitz walked over to a computer to see if anything had showed up yet.

“Good ol’ SHIELD.” Tony muttered, “Peaking over everyone’s fences..”

Peggy watched Fitz look through the data being collected, “It’s remarkable, doing something like this back in my day would be almost impossible.” she took another look at the lab, “No… it would be impossible.”

Fitz sat back in his chair watching as some small alerts were tallied up on the screen. “I’ll send the files to you.”

“Right…”

Tony smiled and pointed at Peggy, “You do know how to open them on the computer right… and print them? Pretty basic stuff-”

“Yes I do.” Peggy said defensively. “Carrier pigeons right?” she joked, “It may take a while but I can manage that. The technology curve is steep but I’m managing just fine. Social media is amazingly distracting.”

“All sent.” Fitz stood up, “Ward will mess up soon. He’s going to start feeling too safe soon enough.”

“Do you all have some… traumatic past thing?” Tony asked putting his attention back on the scanner of one of Fitz’s DWARF drones.

Jemma scoffed, “Do I have a few things to say about Grant Ward. He dropped us in a crate that sank to the bottom of the ocean, he tortured Bobbi, he was in our team and he was Hydra the whole time.”

“Nazi Bastard.” Fitz busied himself with something.

“Glad I asked.” Tony nodded, then picked up the engine, “There, I just enhanced the power supply. It should be able to be out for probably 5 days now.” 

That got his attention back, “Five days? How in the bloody hell is that possible?”

Tony started to get into the details, and Peggy figured that was as good of a que to leave as any “I’m off now. Don’t have too much fun. Let me know if you find anything new.” Peggy walked out the doors of the lab. The Playground labyrinth was slowly becoming second nature. She walked by a training room to see Natasha and Bucky wrestling on the floor, painfully matched. She had to see the end of this. 

Inside Steve was running on a treadmill that for a normal person would be sprinting, but he was at a light jog. He waved, “I can't believe it you're out of the office.” 

“Don't hold your breath, especially at that speed.” she watched as Natasha was thrown off of Bucky, slamming into the mat with great force. “How long have they been-”

“Like, 15 minutes.” He checked his watch. “I think Nat’s just being nice.”

“HEARD THAT!” Bucky grunted throwing a few punches, that Natasha gladly re-gifted then hooked her foot behind Bucky shoving him to the ground unceremoniously. In return Bucky kicked her legs from under her, slamming Natasha down. He spoke in Russian, “best 2 out of 3?”

“No.” Natasha stayed on the ground. “1 out of 1 will do… for now.” 

“Thank god.” Bucky relaxed in equal defeat, “I was 10 seconds from falling.”

Steve slowed the treadmill down and stepped off, “You two should sell tickets.” He kissed Peggy's cheek, “Any news?” 

“No, I feel like I'm watching paint dry. I need to think about something else before I go mad.”

“There's always wedding planning.” Steve suggested with a sheepish grin, “Cause that has to happen eventually…”

Peggy rolled her eyes, “Jesus your right.”

“Don't sound so excited.” Bucky commented from the ground.

“Don't let Pepper plan the thing, unless you want it to be crazy big.” Natasha managed to get up and limp to her water bottle.

“I suppose I'll need a maid of Honor. Would you like to take up the job.” Peggy avoided this scenario since there was no saying what madness Natasha would bring… but she didn't have too many close friends.

Natasha grinned, “I guess you're out of a best man Steve.” 

“I already asked Bucky.” Steve walked over to Bucky and helped him up.

“Yeah like 80 years ago…” Bucky stood up, “But I think I can handle that.” 

Natasha threw Bucky his water, “Come on we have some Bachelor and Bachelorette parties to plan.” she motioned him to follow her, which Bucky did happily. 

Peggy turned watching them leave. Once the door closed Peggy sighed “They're flirting.”

“What?” the innocent Steve choked on his water, “You think Bruce and Nat?”

“It's logical. They've been through the same thing… have been spending a lot of time together.”

Steve chewed on the theory, “God help Bucky.” he went to his bag and pulled out some white tape and started wrapping his knuckles, “So do you think you can take a day off and go to the Barton Thanksgiving feast?”

“Thanksgiving.” She sighed, “One of America’s more sensible traditions.. I suppose I could. I mean there’s a whole fleet of Agents here who are doing exactly what I’m doing. Only they’re better at it.”

He threw her the tape, “You should change and keep me company.”

“You just like seeing me in those workout clothes.” Peggy resisted the urge to chuck the roll back at him with full force.

Steve chuckled, “Only in the same way you feel about me and what I wear.”

“I suppose you’re right. There we’re even, we equally objectify each other. I believe that’s ground for a perfect marriage.” Peggy walked to the door, “I’ll be back in a few minutes ready to kick your arse…” She opened the door and hesitated, “Or, you can follow me back to my quarters.”

Steve without hesitation followed her.


	19. A Very Barton Thanksgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Avengers Assemble!... in Clint and Laura's living room...

“Please tell me you didn’t invite…” Laura looked around the kitchen for any sign of Lila and whispered, “Thor…” 

Clint laughed and took the coffee pot straight out from the brewer and drank it straight, “No. I don’t think we have enough Turkey’s in Midgard to feed him and Peggy and Steve and Bucky And Nat…” He sighed, “We better start cooking…”

“Why are we doing this?” Laura went to the kitchen to check on the large turkey defrosting in their deep sink. “Who’s bright idea was this?”

“Yours dear.” Clint said with forced charm. He put on a very bad Laura impersonation, “Clint, let’s invite all of the Avengers save Thor for Thanksgiving dinner. I’d love to spend 7 hours peeling enough potatoes to feed 3 modified soldiers, Banner- although he’s probably going to bring some healthy organic something or other he likes from one of his runaway sessions- the bottomless pit that’s Natasha’s stomach, 4 non modified humans and 2 and a half children.”

“Who’s the half child?” She turned on the sprayer feeling like it would get them somewhere faster. It didn’t.

“Nathan… I figured he’s not really going to be a strain on the buffet table.” Clint jumped up to sit on the counter and drink his pitcher of coffee. “You’ll do fine. Steve and Peggy will be here soon, I can put them to work.”

Laura nodded, “You’re right.” She said to herself, “Everything is under control. I made the pies yesterday. I’ll just tell Steve and Bucky that whoever peels the most potatoes gets…”

“First draft of the left overs.” Clint finished her thought.

“Yes!” Laura walked over to give Clint a high five, “I’m gonna throw the best damn Thanksgiving the Avengers have ever seen.”

“Damn straight you are.” 

Clint Barton: Master Marksman. Class A dad. Laura Barton’s personal Cheerleader.

 

Peggy closed the door of the car SHIELD was unknowingly lending them for the weekend. She was a bit tired of not having anything of her own. Every element of her second life had been gifted to her or loaned so far, but finally she had signed her new contract with SHIELD and was starting to get an actual paycheck. Her phone buzzed with some trivial news, nothing about Angie. 

“I hope for the sake of SHIELD’s budget they are paying you a salary not by the hour.” He leaned over and plucked Peggy’s phone from her hands.

She started to protest, “Steve Rogers… Fine.” She conceded, “But this is your country’s holiday.”

“And not yours? You’ve technically been here longer than I have.” Steve wrapped his arm around her as they walked up the Barton family’s gravel driveway, “You must have one hell of a workers visa.”

Peggy stretched up and kissed him on the cheek, “You have no idea, Darling.”

Before they got to the door Lila opened it up and announced they were there, “MOM! DAD! PEGGY AND STEVE ARE HERE!”

“Lila!” Clint hissed and walked into the door frame, “Nathan is sleeping. Hi guys.” 

“We’re not early are we?” Peggy looked inside to see no one else there besides the family.

He opened the door for his friends, “No we told you earlier, we figured staggering the guests would be the simplist.”

“Let me guess Tony’s coming last?” like a gentleman Steve assisted Peggy with taking off her coat.

“Hey it’s not like that.” Clint defended, “The last time he was there, he almost made the Tractor transform into some Jarvis mobile. Is Nat not with you?”

Peggy made sure her heels weren’t tracking in any mud, “She and Bucky were running late..” she made a suspicious face with Steve, who rolled his eyes. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Clint walked with them closer to the kitchen; he was supposed to be boiling cranberries for the sauce. “I don’t think they’re dating.”

Laura laughed turning the kitchen sink from washing her hands, “Honey, they are.” she walked out of the kitchen to give Peggy and Steve hugs. “I’m glad to see you! No running off this time.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Steve nodded.

“They’re too similar” Clint went back to the original topic. “I mean when Bucky has what I assume was his old personality. Like when they were here the other day. I think Natasha goes for a bit more obstacles than that.”

Steve agreed, “I’ve seen Bucky with girls he liked and… I just don’t get the same thing from him.”

Peggy objected, “But what about Natasha. She’s with him almost as much as you are.”

“But couldn’t that just be because they went through similar things!” Steve sat down at the counter. He looked at Clint, “We’ve had this conversation many times.”

“So have we.” Clint sighed, “They better not be together, because I bet a month of dishes on it.”

The back door opened and Cooper walked in, kicking his shoes off under a bench, “What are you guys talking about?”

Laura shook her head, not believing the 4 of them were such gossips“Noth-” 

“Aunt Natasha and Bucky.”

“The guy with the metal arm?” He started snooping in the kitchen for something to eat, but only found a mountain of unpeeled potatoes and decided to avoid that before his mother put him to work. “Yeah they’re totally dating.”

“The boy’s smart.” Peggy nodded matter of factly. 

Clint had a bit of pout on, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

 

Lila sat at the table with some papers and colored pencils busy working away at something that looked official… for an 8 year old. Peggy walked by with her cup of tea and noticed the project, “What is this Ms. Lila?” 

“It's for school.” she sighed and looked over her shoulder, “I have to draw everyone who went to my Thanksgiving… but I keep running out of room and not everyone is here yet!” She was genuinely concerned. 

Peggy sat down and examined the work. There were some talented stick figure portraits of the guests so far. Clint was labeled DAD holding a scribbled blob that was labeled NATE and was wearing a purple shirt. Laura-labeled MOM-had a spatula in her hand and an apron with the right details. Steve and Peggy's figures were holding hands and wearing their same colors for shirts and their stubby forms were holding hands. Peggy’s ‘U’ shaped smile was in red labeled with a PEGGY , and Steve was labeled like everyone else STEVE. But that was crossed out and CAPTAIN AMERICA was underneath it.

“These are wonderful!” she picked a draft of herself, “You have my skirt just right.” 

“Thanks… mommy helped with the spelling.” she said bashfully “But I'm running out of room!” 

Peggy looked at the work and started to think, “Well I can see a few strategies. You can redo it so everyone fits on one page.. which I don't you should since these are so wonderful. Or you can draw on a second page and when you’re done we can cut them out and put it on one pig page.” 

Lila looked at the pages taking to heart what her consultant suggested. “That would work!” 

“Well I'm glad I can help.” Peggy picked her tea up taking a sip.

The sound of a car stopping on the driveway made Lila jump, “Is it Aunt Nat!?!” 

“Go check for us.” Peggy suggested, and Lila bolted out the front door. Before the door could close behind her she made a sound of disgust, “EW! THEY'RE KISSING!”

“Knew it!” Laura could be heard slapping Clint hard on the shoulder. 

They walked in the house, “Hi everyone..” Natasha announced. 

Bucky followed, his face blushed to bright red, “Happy thanksgiving…” He looked over at Steve, who slow clapped. “Shut up twerp.” 

Natasha picked Lila up, “Why were you kissing Bucky?” 

“Don't worry about it.” She walked off to cause some mischief. 

Peggy joined Steve in waggling their eyebrows, “Sooo.” she requested.

“It's nothing.” He loosened his tie.

“Why were you late Buck?” Steve kept giving him a hard time.

“Wow, the turkey smells great…” He looked at a distraction, “Hey let's go out and play some football…”

Laura perked up, “Yes! Everyone get out of the house. Go wrestle or something.” 

Peggy protested, “I'm not really dressed for-” Steve bent down and threw Peggy over his shoulder. “God dammit Steve!” she cursed as he ran outside, “I'm not your bloody football.” 

“Come on! Have some fun.” Steve laughed, running around in circles with her. She took a moment to be happy she wore solid black tights and not nilons. 

“I will if you learn how to.” 

Peggy started hitting him in the back, “You wouldn't know a good time if it bit you on your wonderful backside.” 

“Same goes to you.” He pinched her upper leg. She turned sideways and hooked her leg around him as she fell. They both hit the ground but Steve broke her fall. “I deserved that.” 

Lila ran out from the house and jumped on top of them, “DOG PILE!”

Peggy saw Bucky running towards them, “Be careful before you get squished.” She stood up and pulled Lila with her before Steve and Bucky started to wrestle. “I’m not washing that shirt when you have unbelievable grass stains on it.”

“Don’t worry Peg. You’d be surprised how good stain removers are now.” Natasha assured her from the safety of the porch. Peggy dropped Lila off at a safe distance and joined Natasha on the porch. “Is Steve… angry?” She said due to the fact that she felt like she should.

“No, of course not. Well... “ Peggy stopped to think, “He’s only looking out for Bucky. They’re inseparable and he doesn’t want to see his friends heart getting broken.”

Natasha nodded, “He has merit to be worried. I mean, I don’t have the nicest track record with relationships. It just kind of… happened.”

“I think you’re a good match. The only thing hypothesised was that you’re too similar. Which I don’t think is that bad of a thing. I’ve been with people I have almost nothing in common with, and it was a disaster.” Peggy could feel herself giving motherly advice, and it felt strange.

“Who?” Natasha chuckled, seeing Steve in a headlock from Bucky’s metal arm.

Peggy could see an expensive car driving up to the House. Tony- perfect timing. To be safe she moved their conversation into Russian. “Howard and I-”

“Oh my god.” Natasha laughed seamlessly following Peggy’s language jump, “You’re way more interesting than I ever expected.”

“I do hope that’s a good thing.”

Natasha put her arm around Peggy, “The best… but might I add… never tell Tony.”

She laughed, “Don’t worry. Only you and Steve know at this point. I can trust you with secrets, I can’t trust Steve anymore.”

“What happened?” 

Peggy pinched her brow, “He told you all about Angie and I.”

“RIGHT.” Natasha said under her breath, “Like I said, ‘Peggy Carter, way more interesting than I ever would have expected’... and that’s saying a lot since Steve hardly talked about you.”

“I rather wish he’d stop.” Peggy looked over at Natasha, “I apologize if my Russian is a little rusty, it’s been awhile since I’ve used it.”

Natasha shook her head, “No, it’s really good actually. Bucky and I talk like this sometimes, it helps him.”

“Good to know.” Peggy watched Steve and Bucky continue to wrestle. It was hard to believe the things that had happened to the two of them, even happened. They were carrying on like two schoolboys, or even worse. They were acting the same as they did during the war. “

The bright red car stopped Bruce, Pepper and Tony stepped out. Peggy was so used to Pepper’s business attire she almost didn’t recognize her dressed so casually. But the look suited her. Tony… Tony looked like he always did. A little disheveled, and like he hadn’t slept in 3 days. “The good ol’ Barton farm.” He walked by Steve and Bucky, “Good thing you’re settling second place because… I would take first.”

“In your dreams, even in the suit.” Pepper followed him to the porch.

Steve was about to stop the fight when a metal arm jabbed into his face, “Jesus!”

“Language.” Tony scolded without looking back. 

Bucky stood down and winced, “Sorry.” Then they both noticed the triage of cuts and bruises each of them had. 

“I’ll be fine.” He touched his hand to his nose and saw the blood, “This shirt might not be.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, “Come on children. First Aid is required.” 

Steve got up and shoving Bucky one more time, followed Peggy into the house, “I guess that’s the universe’s form of payback for messing with you.” 

“One could say that.” Peggy went to the kitchen, “First aid kit.”

“No blood in the kitchen!” Laura shouted as the larger-by two- group came inside.

Clint handed Peggy a small white container, “Bucky can start peeling potatoes.”

“Yeah yeah, I said I was sorry!” He smirked, “I’m great at peeling potatoes. Peggy made me do it all the time.”

Without missing a beat she retorted, “How else do you expect I was going to get Steve to myself?” She stood in front of Steve who was holding a paper napkin to his nose. 

“Touche.” Bucky got himself ready to peel.

Pepper and Tony walked in with two bags, “We brought the most important element of any Thanksgiving Dinner…” He pulled out an assortment of wines. “Enough wine for an entire oldfolks home to spill the beans…” Tony reached into the bottom of the second bag, “And some Hard ciders and beers for Clint.”

“Grown ups always get fancy drinks.” Lila pouted getting ready to catalog the new guests into her assignment for school. 

Tony turned, “That’s cause we deserve it.” He eyed Lila, “It was your birthday wasn't it.”

“Yeah!” Lila could feel a present coming along.

Tony looked at Pepper, “Did we remember it?”

“No crazy robots before dinner.” Clint pointed at Tony. 

Tony defended himself, “None of my robots were crazy… overly determined yes.” Tony was slowly getting tired of defending himself from Ultron.

“We’ll get the present after Dinner.” Pepper looked around the house. “It nice here… very peaceful.” 

Laura stopped examining one of the wines, “Thank you. I mean, it's no Tower or Malibu Beach house.” 

“It doesn't need to be.” Pepper walked to the couch, where Bruce had found his spot for the night, peacefully away from standing groups of people. Cooper was sitting in a chair watching a football game.

Steve rolled his sleeves up once Peggy was done, “Am I cleared to beat Bucky at a potato peeling contest.”

She kissed him, “Go defend your honor. Laura do you need any help?”

“No. Once the potatoes are cooked everything should be on schedule. Bruce did you bring something?”

“No, I figured I'd just save the kale salad for myself. I'm the only one who likes it anyway.”

“That's not true.” Pepper encouraged, “But I'm not wasting any time on anything healthy this year, now that it has virtually no side effects.”

Tony walked through the room to sit next to Pepper, “I guess extremis was good for something.” After she had been tested on, Tony tried to get her as back to normal as possible. With regular tests and medication she didn’t flame up. But she burnt through at least 20 phones before they adjusted everything correctly. The only problem now was her metabolism which made her a contender with Thor as far as an eating contest went.

Lila walked over looking at the new guests to take note of what color shirt they were wearing and any other identifiable items. She saw the arc reactor glowing through his blue dress shirt, “What’s that?”

“My arc reactor..” It wasn’t that Tony hated kids, he just never was around them. He didn’t know what to do. They weren’t old enough to talk about anything important, and what ever they ended up talking about was nonsense. In addition to that, they always had an inhuman like skill of bringing up a certain hole over the center of New York. 

“Why is it there?”

Tony crossed his leg, “It keeps my heart working.”

“How?”

“Science.” 

“Yeah but how?” 

It finally occurred to him that Lila actually wanted to know, and wasn’t just being a kid asking questions for the sake of talking. “It uses parts of decaying elements that creates a current that goes through gamma-ray-mediated beta decay which works with the vibranium to keep some pieces of metal from going into my heart and killing me. So it keeps me alive but it also powers the Iron Man suits.”

Lila eyed the light and shrugged before walking off, “I’ll believe you I guess.”

Tony checked his phone to pass the time, “Tough crowd.”

“They’re Clint’s kids. They’re probably used to it.” Pepper saw Peggy walking closer into their circle of the room, “Any new wedding plans?”

Peggy sat down on the couch on the opposite side of Bruce across from Pepper, “God no. We’ve barely talked about it. We don’t have a date, I haven’t started looking at dresses, we don’t know where-”

“We don’t even know where we’re sleeping tomorrow night.” Steve spoke up from the kitchen before he dropped the last potato and peeler. “Finished!”

“I did more!” Bucky was quick to point out.

“No you didn’t, count them!” 

For a moment Peggy couldn’t believe that this was the man she picked. A man that would fight with his best friend over who peeled the most potatoes at Thanksgiving. “Our life is a mess at the moment.”

“You should move out of the SHIELD headquarters.” Pepper suggested, “It’s kind of far away from everything.”

Peggy nodded, “You’re right, I just don’t know where.”

“I have some ideas. But you’re the director, if you want the head quarters to be in Portland-they’ll be in Portland. If you want them to be in London, they can be in London.” Pepper leaned forward and sorted through her phone, “I had some ideas as far as a partnership with Stark and-”

“No business.” Steve shouted. “No more!”

Clint started chopping up the potatoes with frightening speed when his phone started to ring, “Laura will you-”

“Sure.” She reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone to answer, “Laura speaking.” She laughed, “Sure thing. See you soon…” She put the phone down, “Sam says he’s on his way, and to make sure nothing shoots him once he’s on the property.”

“No promises,” Clint smirked.

Natasha walked up with Nathan in her arms, “Your son would like to know when his favorite Aunt will get dinner.”

Laura opened the oven to check the temperature of the large turkey, “Tell Nathan it will be as soon as the potatoes are done.” she took a step back, “Can someone with preferably super strength of some sort get the Turkey out?”

Steve volunteered himself and took the oven mitts and pulled the turkey out setting it in the designated spot, “Best looking Turkey I’ve ever seen.”

“What? You mean it’s better than that year my sister dropped the Turkey?” Bucky laughed walking out of the kitchen to keep out of people's way. He pulled a chair over to where everyone else was sitting. The only space open was next to Peggy, and that had a Steve sized reservation sign on it.

“And the dogs got to it before your mom could even be angry.” Steve took the mitts off and followed Bucky out of the kitchen sitting next to Peggy, “And your sister was just… bawling.” They were starting to crack up which caused the rest of the group who was listening to laugh.

“I ruined Thanksgiving!” Bucky mocked, “But we went to have Pizza instead.”

“Cause everyone was cryin’ over the turkey no one noticed everything burned!” Steve put a hand on his stomach to compose himself, “The only place in Brooklyn open on Thanksgiving day. That crummy pizza window by the theater.”

Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he laughed so hard, “It was the worst Pizza I think I’ve ever had.” The factoid only made the whole thing better.

“I think I’ve eaten there.” Peggy joined in the laughing, “Howard swore by it.”

“It was awful.” Bucky said out of breath.

She grinned, “I made him quit, saying it was a stain on your memories.” 

“It was!” Steve bursted out laughing.

 

Sam walked in a few minutes after everyone had managed to stop laughing from sharing stories of hilarious Thanksgiving memories. “Alright everyone, you can have fun now. I’m here.” 

“Hey Sam.” Steve smiled.

“Damn man, what happened to your face?” 

Natasha laughed, “Bucky’s fist happened.”

“Well it looks pretty bad.” Sam pulled the falcon wing pack down by the door with his goggles.

Steve looked at Peggy, “Is it really that bad?” 

She winced, “It’s… well… you certainly have a black eye. It’ll go away soon.”

“Okay Bartons, and Avengers and… Pepper… assemble into the dining room! Dinner is ready.” 

 

After dinner and dessert Tony, Pepper and Bruce left since they had plans for tomorrow; leaving Sam, Natasha, Steve, Bucky and Peggy at the Bartons overnight. Sam was already out from the excess of food and wine. The fire Clint had built didn’t help keeping everyone awake. He, Laura and Natasha had divided up putting the kids to bed leaving the downstairs quiet besides Peggy fixing herself a cup of tea. 

Bucky and Steve sat in front of the Fire leaning against the bottom part of the couch, beers in their hand and the glow of the fire lighting them. “Thank you for fighting for me Steve. Fighting to bring me back to normal..” Bucky said quietly.

“Don’t even say that like it was an option.” Steve insisted, “I’m only glad you came back. I didn’t have to dismantle the earth looking for you.”

They both chuckled as Peggy walked back and sat next to Steve. He put his arm around her holding her close. “This is much better than the last Thanksgiving we all shared.”

“I remember that.” Bucky sighed, “We were in that trench weren’t we?”

“It was raining.” Steve leaned his head on Peggy’s.

Peggy sipped her tea, “We were miserable. The food was as terrible as Dugan’s singing.”

“But that was the warmest fire I’ve ever sat at.” Bucky remembered, “I’m so tired of being cold.”  
“You won't have to be.” Peggy assured. “Happy Thanksgiving you two.”

“Happy Thanksgiving.” Steve kissed the top of her head, feeling himself start to fall asleep thanks to a wonderful day, and a wonderful life.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peggy gets a new office and she talks to Tony about Howard...

Peggy took Maria Hills hand to get out of the car. The New York street was busy, but there wasn't anyone taking pictures of them yet. Today was the first day the New York SHIELD headquarters was up and running, thanks to Maria and Peggy's hard work. The building was tall with reflected mirrors, “I'm no architect, but it looks nice.”

“I thought it was nice symbol. SHIELD is just a mirror for the world. What you see is what is really there, nothing more, nothing less.” 

Peggy looked over, “Maria that's a beautiful sentiment.” 

“I guess my double major in English wasn't useless.” Maria held the door open for Peggy.   
“What was the other?” Peggy looked around the lobby. Some agents were positioned around but the real attraction was the high ceilings and the massive amounts of Natural light coming in. Much different than The Playground or the old SSR buildings.

“Criminal Law.” She shrugged, scanning a security card on an elevator. 

Peggy walked in, constantly impressed with how sleek everything was, “I always wanted to go to college.” 

“Running off to fight in a World War is a good excuse though.” Maria countered. 

“I believe you're right.” The elevator closed and started lifting them up. “How was your holiday?” 

Maria shrugged, “I was working, I enjoyed it though. How were the Bartons?”

“Great, they are just a lovely family.” Peggy felt her phone buzz in her purse and started searching through the pockets. She pulled out the phone and saw Steve's name on the screen. “Sorry-”

“Tell Steve I said hi.” Maria smirked.

Peggy held the phone to her ear, “Hello Darling,”

“I'm not interrupting anything am I?” 

“No, I'm with Maria at the new yet-to-be-named SHIELD building.. she says Hello..” 

“Well I say hi back. Pepper keeps writing me, sending emails? Or texts… whatever they're called about meeting to do… wedding things.” He said ominously.

“Don't remind me. Can’t I just plan to destroy a terrorist organization instead? It could be out honeymoon..” Part of her was kidding, and another part wasn’t.  
“I just wanted to warn you.. we’ll have to plan it eventually…” 

The doors opened and Maria walked out in front of Peggy, a little disappointed that she couldn’t hear the conversation. “I don’t see you flipping through magazines.” Peggy bit back, “I’ll see you back at The Tower, I have to get the grand tour of my office.”

“See you later.”

Peggy hung up the phone, “Sorry. I find it best not to ignore him, since it probably took three tries just to figure out how to dial me.”

“He’s really that bad with Technology?”

“Yes. I’ve only been awake for what, 4 months, and I’ve surpassed and doubled where is after 2 and a half years.”

Maria laughed and stopped outside of an office that had Director Carter on the plaque. Her office, like most SHIELD offices was walled in by bulletproof glass but thankfully her office had blinds allowing for some privacy. She had grown to like them more, but she longed for some more privacy. Maria opened the door allowing Peggy to go in first. 

The view was the first thing she noticed was the spectacular view of New York. The tall buildings she used to look at decades ago along with some new additions, Stark Tower was a rather large addition. “Jiminey Cricket!” She walked through the empty office straight to the full wall Windows. “That’s quite a view.”

“It really is.” Maria pointed to the right wall, “My office is on the other side of this wall and the conference room is on the other side of that wall.” She pointed to the left. “Assistants and Security Guards will be the only one with access to this level.”

Peggy turned away from the view, “I haven’t even thought about an assistant. No wonder I’ve been so busy lately.”

“We can get some interviews set up. Find an Agent somewhere who specializes in making the perfect cup of tea and organizing a calendar.”

Peggy laughed, “Everyone has some value somewhere.”

“Well I won’t keep you long. There’s not much to do but pick out the desk and move in whatever you want.”

“I don’t have much to move in.” Peggy looked around again, “I’ll just order the stuff tonight on the line.”

Maria laughed. ‘on the line’ she’d have to remember that to tell Tony later. The group had a book going of hilarious things Steve and Peggy said. Of course they didn’t know, since if they did the book would be gone, and they would be missing. “That’ll work. Want to see the rest of the building?” 

“Of course. I’d love to see what you’ve been working on.” Peggy said with genuine excitement.

 

Peggy walked into the living level of Stark Tower and saw Tony cooking, “You’re back.” He pointed out. 

“Yes I am. Is Steve here yet?” Peggy immediately bend down and took her heels off.

“Probably ruining yet another one of my punching bags.” Tony sighed and picked up the pan he was holding in his hand, “Omelette?” 

“No thank you.” Peggy walked into the kitchen to make herself some tea. “So now that Thanksgiving is over, I guess we have to handle the mess of Christmas now.”

“Pepper and I will probably go to the Malibu house.” He shrugged, “Mom and Dad never did Christmas. Jarvis and Anna always made an attempt.”

“Jarvis loved Christmas.” Peggy chuckled, “and Anna Hanukkah.”

When she got a better look at Tony she noticed what he was wearing. A well worn vintage smoking robe, “You’re wearing the robe I bought Howard” she sounded excited about the connection, “I can’t believe he kept it.”

Tony looked down and frowned, “Only because it’s comfortable. Can we not talk about my Dad now? Leave the heart to heart conversations between you and Steve.”

The new science of making tea in the Stark Kitchen felt like pulling teeth to her. No boiling water was required since there was a special faucet just for boiling hot water. It felt like she was stepping on the Union Jack every time she did it, but Peggy Carter is many things. Lazy when it’s not a matter of life or death just happens to be one of them.

 

She ripped open the tea package and started soaking it in the mug, “We were friends. I’m sorry.” Tony still didn’t know about their relationship since it had been impossible to tell Tony anything about his dad - the fact that they raise their eyebrows the same way when they say something cocky and among other things. “I guess it’s hard to accept the fact that he actually had a son.”

“He probably felt the same way. Didn’t spend too much time being fatherly.” Tony poured some green peppers into the pan, “The business was the only thing I ever saw him giving a shit about.” Tony seemed more jarred about the subject than usual. After trying to figure out why he realized that it was the anniversary of when Howard and Tony’s mother was reported dead.

Peggy took a deep breath. It was time to tell him one of the secrets she was keeping. “To be fair he gave up everything for you indirectly-” 

Tony scoffed, “Like what? Being a decent person,”

She turned her physical attention back to making her tea. “Tony I believe there is something I should tell you about your Father.” 

He stopped and moved the omelette off of the heat. Tony looked up at Peggy, “What?”

“Howard was Jewish. I mean he was brought up Jewish, and he followed it privately when I knew him at least, mostly for the sentiment. Atheism wasn’t as open back then I guess.” She looked at Tony and could see him wanting more information. “It doesn’t erase the fact that he was a rubbish father. He couldn’t say two words without lying or cheating but all he wanted to do was make the world better. He didn’t think an immigrant son of two Jewish factory workers would get him where he wanted to get to and especially before the war. It would have closed every door in his face. It’s what he had to do.” 

Tony turned back to his mid afternoon snack, “Who knows?”

“Just me.” Peggy stirred a spoonful of sugar into her cup, “And well Jarvis and Anna. It was a good thing he kept it a secret since if the media knew, he wouldn’t have been able to save as many people as he did.” she said like she was reciting history- a known fact- that Tony would be in on.

“What do you mean?” Tony sighed. He wished she would have listened and kept the heart to heart away from him. 

“Howard saved probably 100 people from the death camps before it became too dangerous and had to stop or risk uncovering more than a dozen espionage missions. I mean it’s how Howard and I met.” Peggy sighed letting Tony have some time to think. “He didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, I guess that’s why you don’t know.”

Tony half heartedly flipped the omelette onto a plate, “I only know that he saved Anna and pulled Jarvis’s fat out of the fryer.” he looked at his plate, “You sure know how to ruin good breakfast foods.”

“I’m sorry Tony.” Peggy didn’t fall for his deflecting humor, “Howard was a good man. A terrible father… but everything good about him I see in you, constantly.”

Tony pulled a drawer open and found a fork, “Don’t pity me.”

“I’m not.” Peggy sighed, “I’m telling you the truth.” 

Tony took the plate and walked out of the kitchen, “I’m going to the Lab, try and not cause any more existential crisis’s today.”

Peggy didn’t justify the request with an answer, she just took her tea and went to find Steve. As expected Steve was wailing into a bag with his hands taped up to keep from breaking. “Hello darling.” Peggy walked to Steve and gave him a kiss.

“You’re late.” He teased.

“I’m not going to take that from you.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peggy Carter makes a friend...

With the New office set up being handled by Maria, Peggy was back into work mode. Thankfully Steve was 100 percent aware of what she was going through or else, their cooperation might not have been so smooth. They had both agreed to postpone the wedding until there was more information in Angie. Peggy’s brain just couldn’t handle everything being thrown at her at once; Angie, moving, planning a wedding, running SHIELD. She could only do two of those things, moving and the wedding had to wait. “It’s not like there isn’t room” Was the answer from Tony when Peggy and Steve asked if they could stay in the tower for at least a few more months. Seemed good enough to them.

Peggy leaned back in her chair facing the view of New York City. Her office had been moved into, the desk was a ‘an antique nightmare’ as Pepper described. Not enough glass and sleek lines for the modern taste. But it was almost the exact same desk she had when she was the Director the first time. Peggy wasn’t about to change that. She had been on the phone all day with various media groups. Her assistant arranged everything so Tuesday was her ‘PR’ day, the one day where she had to sit down and rip the bandaid off as she called up every news station and journalist that wanted to talk with her. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the questions weren’t so trivial and she swore to god if someone asked her about the wedding one more time like she was a circus attraction she was going to ruin her view of New York from throwing her phone into the glass. The last interview of the day was finally an in person one, despite the fact that it was for a radio show. She wasn’t complaining since talking on the phone always made her freeze up and sound terrible. 

The car drove her through New York until she was in a trendy neighborhood of manhattan. She got out and walked into the radio station. An assistant was waiting by the door, “Director Carter.” She shook hands with Peggy, “I’m going to escort you up to the studio, my name is Alice.”

“Well it’s wonderful to meet you.” Peggy tried to hide the fact that she wanted to be at home in her pajamas catching up on TV from the past half century. They walked to the elevator and took the short ride up to a lower level. The assistant was nice enough, but Peggy could tell that she was a little intimidated by her. Public Icon. Right. She forgot.

They walked up to the door that said read “Trish Talk” Recording studio. The assistant opened the door and Peggy saw the small environment and was unbelievably grateful. There wasn’t an audience, there weren’t cameras. An athletic blonde women was inside the recording studio organizing papers seeming like she herself was nervous. A sound technician was listening to the levels, but when they entered she made an announcement through the mic, “Trish, Peggy Carter is here.” 

The blonde’s head whipped up and smiled at the guest. She walked and opened the door, “Oh wow. You’re perfectly on time.”

Peggy smiled, “Well I didn’t want to give you an excuse to give me the hard questions.”

“I’m Patrisha Walker.” She smiled, “There won’t be any hard questions, we try and stay away from anything too gossipy when it’s someone like you. Everyone has been dying for this interview for weeks. You can set your stuff down on the chair and you can come in and we can get some practice questions out of the way.”

Peggy felt like she was watching a tornado whirl around itself. People did that around her nowadays. “I’ve gotten nothing but gossip questions all day.” she said with exasperation and followed Trish into the studio. “So what is the setup of your show. I have to apologize I didn’t have time to look into it.”

Trish laughed, “No problem, I didn’t expect you do. Just a lifestyle and interview show, we’ll talk about whatever direction the conversation goes in you first and then people will call in. Anything you don’t want to answer and we’ll skip right over it, for me or the callers.” She sat down.

“I’ll let you know.” Peggy sat down on her side of the table and crossed her legs, “Don’t worry.” It’s not like Peggy had a problem keeping things to herself. 

A few moments later after small talk, the show was finally on air. “Welcome back to Trish Talk, I won’t talk for too long since today is the much anticipated interview with the one and only Peggy Carter who has joined me today in the studio.” Her voice was peppy without being fake or unlikable. She must be an actor.. Peggy thought to herself. “Now to anyone who’s going to call in, please note she is a very busy women so please keep the questions interesting and respectful.. So anyway, welcome to the show Director Carter, or just Peggy Carter?”

“Well, I guess technically it’s Director Carter, but that seems so dramatic. Peggy will do just fine. But only if you ask the good questions.” She joked. 

Trish laughed, “Right, I think the best place to start off is just to say how big of an icon you have become since your - not so permanent- death and your coming back into the public. How does it feel?”

“I mean, it feels overwhelming of course. One minute I’m alive and what feels like a few minutes later I’m waking up 64 years later to a completely different world where I’m respected and this historical figure.”

“Weren’t you a public figure before, back in 1951?”

“Yes, and no.” Peggy answered carefully, “I was the director of SHIELD but due to the attitude towards women at the time, it was hard to get people to realize that I actually earned my place. Not everyone of course, I made many wonderful friends but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I was never the one being sent around for interviews. That was Howard’s division.”

“Howard Stark, right?” Trish confirmed.

“Yes. He provided much juicier stories for the media than I did.” Peggy chuckled, “I was busy overseeing missions and doing field work.”

Tish laughed and crossed some things off a paper she had. They were different topics she wanted to bring up, so far of Peggy’s reading backwards nothing seemed scary. “I imagine this is where other shows would ask you about your personal life of the time, right?”

Peggy laughed, “Yes they would, mainly about getting over Steve’s death, but I’ve never managed to answer the question to the best of my abilities.” 

“Is there something you want to clarify?”

“Perhaps…” Peggy thought, “I was reading articles that have been written about me-”

Trish interrupted, “Well there’s your first mistake”

Peggy chuckled, “You’re right, but they never manage to catch on the fact that I knew Steve for a brief moment in time before he became Captain America.” She said with valor, “he was just Steve Rogers. A smart, caring man who wanted to help people.”

“What did you do during the War, before the Captain America project?” Trish asked.

“I started working as a code breaker very earlier on in the war. After about a year I managed to convince someone to let me go through training to become a spy for Britain since I excelled at both athletics, strategy and linguistics I was very good. Slowly through the years of the war, I did my best and that was enough to get me into working with the SSR and that’s where I stayed through the rest of the War until the SSR was turned into SHIELD.” Peggy paused, “Sorry was that a boring answer?”

“No!” Trish answered quickly. “Where did you learn all that?”

“My Grandparents ensured I was well educated throughout my childhood. That covers why I like code breaking and languages.” Peggy chuckled, “But the athleticism is just because I was a troublemaker as child who had a lot of excess energy.”

“Can I ask you a question that might break up into gossip territory?”

“Sure, why not.” 

Trish took a moment to arrange her thought, “I am guessing you had feeling for him during the war, and they were mutual. There’s that old footage shot of the picture of you in his compass; so I guess my question is when did you develop those feelings, before or after the Serum.”

“Before.” Peggy answered in a heartbeat, “He was the same person to me. The only thing that changed was a rather impressive immune system.”

“Super strength can’t hurt though.” 

Peggy laughed, “No comment, he’s probably listen. The last thing I need is him giving me a hard time about how attractive I find him.”

They both laughed for moment, “How would you feel about taking some calls right about now, I bet we’re swamped.”

“Seems fine to me. This is the least stressful interview I think I’ve ever been in.”

“Well thank you.” Trish felt honored, “I have been a big fan. I used to have a this Peggy Carter posted in my room when I was a kid, I think every girl did. Anyway- caller number one what’s your question?”

“Hi, my question is what is your favorite thing about 2015?”

It was a little bland of a question since she got it a lot but she answered it anyway, “Well that’s always a hard question to answer when it comes up, but I always have to say is how comfortable the clothes are. Everything was so restrictive, especially for women. In 1950 if I was doing a radio show I’d be wearing a dress, and nylons, and my hair would have taken me at least an hour each night and morning, and everything was itchy. God, I try not to think about all the things I could have gotten done if I didn’t have to worry about what I was wearing. I believe Pepper Potts deserves a nobel peace prize for making the Pony Tail a fashion statement.”

“Speaking of Pepper Potts, you two have gone into business together right?”

“Well, yes and no. It’s hard to think of SHIELD as a business since I’d rather not privatize freedom and equality. But certainly has helped get things back up and running. Since Tony works with the Avengers and SHIELD often, it just seemed natural. She’s a wonderful stylist too. Her taste is a bit modern for me, but I think I might just be old fashioned.”

“That’s probable,” Trish laughed, “Alright next caller.”

“There’s been evidence of some vigilante’s in New York that aren’t aligned with the Avengers. What’s SHIELD doing to protect people from them.”

“Protect people from other people?” Peggy asked.

“Yeah.” 

“I’m not going to answer that question.” Peggy shook her head, “It’s a valid concern and I can understand the perspective, but I assure you that SHIELD is doing everything in our ability to keep people safe. That is what SHIELD was founded on, and that’s what it is today. Next question.”

Trish looked at the clock, “I believe we’re running out of time but I have a question to play off the last one.”

“Ask away.” Peggy took a sip of the water bottle by her hand.

“What advice do you have to people who want to be Heros. Maybe people who want to be Hero’s but don’t have an Iron Man suit, or Captain America’s super strength.”

Peggy took a deep breath, “We need more of those people. Not every conflict can be solved through hitting walls as hard as possible. What SHIELD does and what the Avengers do means nothing if the people in the world don’t hold each other responsible. Finding the value of yourself and doing the best you can to improve your pocket of the world is it’s own act of heroism. And to extend on that; In the beginning of this interview we talked about my history in the war. Not to be vain but back in the day I could do 107 one armed push ups.” She paused getting her bearings, “That was more than any howling commando could do. Except for Steve, obviously. That was just me, normal, human Peggy Carter who everyone expected to be a secretary or a nurse, not the drill sergeant or the Director of SHIELD.” Peggy stopped again, “I think the biggest danger in this new world is underestimating the power of one determined human. And allowing someone else to tell you what your value is. That is your decision.”

Trish nodded, “That’s a wonderful way to end this interview I think. Director Peggy Carter, it’s been wonderful to have you on the show. Hopefully I can convince you to come again.”

“I’m not sure that can be arranged.”

 

Peggy stood in the lobby a few minutes later still talking to Trish. “You know, this is the longest conversation with someone who wasn’t a team member.”

“Do you not get out much?” Trish chuckled. 

“No not really. The People in charge of making me look good to the public have just started to believe I can go out without making an arse out of myself.” Peggy checked the time on her phone.

“Well, if you ever need some time away from being the great Director Peggy Carter, come on the show.” Trish offered, “Do you want to go grab some Coffee? Or Tea..”

“You’ve discovered my weakness to Tea-” Peggy was cut off by Trish’s phone.

Trish reached into her pocket and sighed, “Do you mind if I take this, it could be an emergency.”

“No of course not.” 

Trish turned to the side, “Hi Jessica.. Yeah we’re going and getting drinks… Not those kind of drinks… I’ll see you later...”

Peggy tried to hide her smile, but Steve texted her which didn’t help her attempt. “You were good on the radio.”

“You listened?” She texted back, “I probably made an ass of myself didn’t I?”

“No. Tony’s on the Twitter thing. I don’t know how he knows or what they’re saying, but he says it’s good.” 

Peggy took a deep breath and looked and saw Trish hanging up her conversation, “Apparently the internet liked the interview.”

“Oh really, what are they saying?” Trish checked her phone and walked through the revolving door of the building. She was checking the app on her phone, “You’re trending.”

“What does that mean?” Peggy put her sunglasses on. 

Trish laughed, “Oh it’s just that people are talking about you. It’s a social media thing. Do you have one?”

“Have a what?”

“A Twitter… instagram…”

Peggy made a face of dislike, “I’m not sure that would be appropriate.”

“You’re probably right… but the President has one, The Queen has one.” 

“Oh,” The fact that the Queen had one made the whole thing more palatable, “Well if The Queen is doing it.”

 

 

Peggy walked into the tower seeing Steve making a sandwich with the healthy plethora of ingredients in the Stark fridge, “Hello Darling.”

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you this happy on a press day… ever.” He laughed.

“I believe I was just making a friend.” She said with a gasp, “Can you believe it.”

Tony walked into the room eating a handful of blueberries, “You’re friends with Trish Walker now?”

“We just went to get coffee out of the interviewer. She seemed normal, and not an Avenger.” Peggy hung her coat over the back of a couch, “Not that there’s anything bad about that.”

Steve chuckled, “No offense taken. But who’s Trish Walker.”

“She was on some stupid kids show. ‘Hey it’s Patsy.. I really wanna be your friend..’ or whatever it was. Now she has a talk show, I mean she’s one of the more tolerable ones.”

Peggy nodded, “That’s what I picked up on-”

“PEGGY CARTER.” Pepper shouted from the direction of her office. “PEGGY CARTER.” The voice was getting closer until she was walking into the room, looking into her phone. “You have a twitter?!”

“Ugh…” Peggy scratched the back of her neck, “I mean… yes. I thought it would be a good idea.”

“It. Was. A. Brilliant. Idea.” She walked over and showed Peggy some polls, “You’re the internet’s new favorite thing.”

Peggy took the phone, “I just got it so I can look at cat pictures though..” She was tired of everything being a public image move. She was becoming tired of a lot of things. 

“How did your assistant interviews go?” Steve brushed the crumbs off his hands. 

“Good, I found a girl. Very organized, pleasant and she starts in a few days.” Peggy felt her phone buzz in her hand, “Excellent taste in coffee..” She said as she drifted into focusing on the new information. It was a message from Coulson, 529 “Good lord..” She muttered.

“What happened?” Steve walked over.

“Code 529…” she and Steve made a beeline to her temporary office-thanks to Tony- and hit a few keys on the computer opening up a video call with Coulson. 

Tony followed her into the office, was immediately impressed by how good she was with the technology. Being a spy for so long helped her be adaptable. “529 is good right?” 

“Coulson, what is happening?” Peggy could see the other members of the team in Coulson office. “Tony send a message to the Avenger team to prepare to ship out.”

“We have a location of the Target about 10 miles outside of Chicago.” A map was brought up, “We should be able to take out the base with SHIELD and the Avengers cooperating.” 

Peggy nodded, “prepare a short debrief for the Avenger Team once we meet to go in. Night attack?” 

“I finally get to say it: We attack at Dawn.” He smiled but went back to business. “See you here.”

She checked her watch, “We’ll be there no later than 2200 I imagine.” that gave them plenty of time to assemble and prepare to leave. They both signed off and Peggy immediately started to prepare herself for battle. She was going to get Angie back, and hopefully she’d kick the legs from under Hydra as she succeeded.


End file.
